


A Hurricane, Raging

by stalrua



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, EreriPrompt15, M/M, Mentions of Auretra, Mentions of Mobuhan, Sirens, Slight Drug Use, Slight Manga Spoilers, Slight Violence, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2019-11-26 07:26:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18177659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stalrua/pseuds/stalrua
Summary: The only reason they docked was to refuel. Deep space ports like Shiganshina Prime didn’t have much to offer other than black market trades. But a visit to a local tavern leads to more than Captain Levi bargained for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for EreriPrompt15: Pirates
> 
> Pirates are awesome, but instead of going the traditional route, I decided to switch it up. One of the few things I love more than pirates is space, so I figured why not combine the two? That's what you're getting. Intergalactic pirates. Roughly inspired by Cowboy Bebop, Black Sails, Star Wars, and Treasure Planet.

_“Exploration is in our nature.  We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still.  We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean.  We are ready at last to set sail for the stars."_

_Carl Sagan, Cosmos_

 

* * *

 

Levi grimaced and set down the tankard.  “Tastes like pig piss.  Is this the best you could find?”

“Best until we reach Central Sina.”  Eld offered an apologetic shrug.  “Sorry, Captain.  Deep space ports aren’t exactly known for quality ale.”

“Not known for much of anything, really,” Gunther grumbled.

“Come on, they’re not that bad.”  Slinging an arm around Gunther’s shoulders, Oluo leaned in close and pointed to the opposite side of the tavern.  “You can’t find a sight like that in the open voids.”

Levi turned just enough to follow Oluo’s gaze to a petite redhead working the bar.  With a coy smile, she slid a shot glass to a waiting patron and rested her elbows on the polished bar top.  The position aided the tightly-laced corset women in the Maria Cluster favored, pushing her breasts together and up, and Levi noticed the man she was playing for extra tips lean forward ever so slightly, too enamored to catch wind of the game.  Or maybe he knew and didn’t care.  Poor sod.

“Look at that,” Oluo sighed, cupping his chin in one hand, wistful smile on his face.  “Damn fine view, my friends.  Damn fine.”

Levi rolled his one good eye and adjusted the eye patch covering the other.

Make that two poor sods.

“Why don’t you just go talk to her?” Gunther suggested and shrugged off Oluo’s arm.  “No one wants to listen to you mooning.  We hear enough of that on board.”

Immediately, Oluo shifted from pining to resolute.  “You know what, I think I will.”  He braced his hands on the table to stand before pausing, eyes sliding hesitantly to Levi.  “But what about—”

Levi waved him off.  “You’re not so vital that we can’t manage one night without you.  Get out of here before I change my mind.”

The crew had learned long ago not to question Levi’s decisions, so it was no surprise when Oluo jumped to his feet and issued a prompt, “Aye, Captain!”  He stumbled a bit in his haste to climb over the bench, then disappeared into the crowd.

Another quick glance revealed the girl to be alone.  The man she’d been working over was gone – although her tip jar was significantly fuller – and she looked somewhat bored now as she wiped down a glass.  Shiganshina Prime was a relatively common stop for black market trade runners.  Good for business, bad for bedmates.  She probably hadn’t been with a decent man in a while.  Oluo wasn’t exactly a looker, but he had a soft spot for the ladies and treated them well.  If he kept a level head and didn’t make an absolute fool of himself, he might actually stand a chance.

Oluo hadn’t been gone for more than a few seconds before Mike slid down the bench to take his place.  “That was awfully generous of you.  Wasn’t Oluo supposed to be on first watch tonight?”

“Yes.”

Levi returned to his sad excuse for ale without offering any further explanation, and Mike didn’t press him.  As the quartermaster and most veteran member of the crew, Mike was awarded more liberties than the rest, but he’d neither reached nor maintained that position by pushing his luck.  He knew when to leave things alone.  That didn’t stop him from smiling knowingly as he took a deep draught, though.

A couple voices began to carry, and Levi seized the opportunity to look away from Mike and his smug expression.

Two boys to their right were facing off across a small table in the center of the room.  They started out yelling but quickly progressed to gesturing wildly in each other’s faces and small shoves.  Poker chips, what looked like the access key to a ground speeder, and several bills sporting the hologram portrait of the Premier of the Paradis Galaxies fell to the floor when one of them – a broad-shouldered boy with brown hair pulled back into a bun – banged a fist on the table.

Levi watched the third member of their group try to talk the pair down.  When that didn’t seem to work, he stood and forcefully pushed them apart.  The boys continued to glare at each other, but eventually the taller of the two threw his hands up, said something that was lost in the noise of the tavern, and flopped back into his chair.  After a moment, the other slowly followed suit.  His mouth was still moving, though, nose wrinkled in derision.  Obviously, he wasn’t done quite yet.

“Kids these days,” Eld chuckled.  “They’re all so quick to take up smuggling, but once they get their hands on a decent stash…”  He tipped his tankard towards the boys.  “Well, it doesn’t take long for greed to set in.”

Losing interest, Levi sipped his ale.  He understood the reckless abandon that came with first starting out, the almost addictive draw.  Deep space ports were like quicksand, and piracy was about the only way people managed to get free.  They’d all been there at one point.  But that didn’t mean he wanted to slum around back-galaxy taverns with kids itching for a brawl.

Fights, especially on outlying planets with a reputation for illegal activity, tended to attract the military police when they got bad enough.  The last ship they’d raided had yielded too good a haul for them to risk getting involved.  He’d rather push off before _The Legion_ was fully refueled and hope the interstellar currents were enough to get them to the Trost 850 outpost than see their cache fall into the hands of the MP.

There wasn’t much warning.

One minute the tavern was filled with the low drone of hushed conversations and music playing from the ancient jukebox salvaged from Earth; the next, there was a brief shout before a body slammed onto their table.

Levi blinked down at a pair of captivating sea-green eyes.  It was the boy from earlier, the one who had his hair tied up.  He stared at Levi in somewhat of a daze until he was suddenly jerked back to his feet, punched across the face, and thrown the opposite direction where he crashed into a different table.

It was as if someone had given a signal to begin.  Their interaction couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds, but when Levi came back to himself, the rest of the tavern had dissolved into chaos and Eld and Gunther were gone.  Scanning the room, he eventually spotted them teaming up against some of the other patrons.  They’d either been roped into the fray or joined in willingly.  It was hard to say which was more likely.  Tensions always ran high after so many months in deep space.

Righting their upturned tankards, Mike nodded towards Eld and Gunther.  “That’s one way to get out their frustrations.”

“If you can’t fuck, might as well fight,” Levi agreed.

This wasn’t the place, though.  He didn’t like to deny his crew simple pleasures, but things were getting out of hand.  They needed to leave before someone notified the MP.  Levi was perched on the edge of the table, preparing to round up his men, when the green-eyed boy jumped Gunther from behind.

There were too many people in the way to follow their fight completely, but every once in a while Levi would catch a glimpse.  The boy was a force of his own, whirling around like a hurricane, taking on two – no, three – other men in addition to Eld and Gunther.  He kicked and punched and bit.  Fought tooth and nail as if he had nothing to lose.  It would’ve been admirable if it wasn’t Levi’s men he was pummeling.

Levi was just about to intervene when a man who dwarfed even Mike grabbed hold of the boy by the back of his shirt and lifted him off his feet.

“You good for nothing pissant,” the man snarled as the rest of the commotion gradually died down.  “This is the last time you’re going to wreck my place, you hear me?  I’m done with your shit.  No more working off your debt.  It’s off to the center for you.”

A couple more men stepped out from behind the bar, wrenched the boy’s arms behind his back, and clapped a pair of glowing handcuffs around his wrists.  Immediately, the boy dropped to his knees, body rigid and muscles twitching.  Beside Levi, Mike made a sympathetic noise.  Electrostatic cuffs were incredibly painful, yet the boy continued to struggle.

One of the men laughed as he pulled the boy upright and began to lead him towards the door.  “You know that just makes it worse, right?”

“Shut th— the fuck up, Han— Hannes,” the boy ground out between static shocks.

“I’m tempted to let you go just to see you try and make me.  We could take bets on how far you make it before those cuffs knock you out.”  The man – Hannes, apparently – shook his head at the boy’s efforts, smile still on his face.  “You got yourself into a right mess this time.”

“I’ve been in— worse scrapes tha— than this.  I’ll— be out of that cen— center in no time, you’ll— see.  Then I’ll b— be gone.”

“Bullshit.  If you could be gone, you’d have done so a long time ago.  Time to wake up, kid.  You’re stuck, just like the rest of us, and I’ll have to keep putting up with your troublemaking ass the same way I have since your mother—”

Stepping out at the last minute, Levi blocked the doorway.  He studied the boy who continued to pull against Hannes even as his body jerked uncontrollably every few seconds from the shocks.  A bruise was beginning to darken on his jaw, and a single trail of blood slid down his cheek from a small cut near his temple.  They were the only wounds he had to show for the fight.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

“Is there a problem, Captain?” Hannes asked.

“Just figured I could take the boy off your hands.  You’ve got enough of a mess to clean up, and the center’s not far from the docks.  We can drop him off on the way.”

Hannes hesitated, jaw working over itself, hand tightening slightly on the boy’s arm.  For all his teasing, the boy clearly meant something to him because he didn’t seem too keen on handing him over.  Not that Levi could blame him.  He wasn’t exactly known for being merciful.  But before Hannes could turn down his offer, the tavern keeper started yelling from behind the bar.

“You going to wait there all day?  Pass the little shit off.”

“But what if—”

“Just do it, Hannes!  He can be someone else’s problem for once.  Now get to work.  I don’t pay you to stand around.”

Turning around, Hannes grumbled under his breath, “You barely pay me at all.”  However, when Levi motioned Mike forward, he dutifully, if not a little reluctantly, passed off the boy.

 

* * *

 

They didn’t drop him off on the way.

Instead, Levi led them several blocks past the security center, finally stopping in the shadows between street corners where the lights couldn’t quite reach.  Mike steered the boy so he stood in front of Levi who made a show of drawing his knife.  He brandished it between them, and the boy’s eyes flicked back and forth between him and the glowing edge of the blade.

“Listen up,” Levi said, pressing the tip of the blade to the boy’s chest.  “You try to escape, I’ll gut you.  You try to fight, I’ll gut you.  You run that smart mouth, I’ll gut you.  You even _look_ at me wrong, I’ll gut you.  We clear?”

The boy swallowed thickly.  “Crystal.”

“Good.”

Levi slid the knife back into its sheath and leaned against the nearest building while Mike worked on the series of locks securing the electrostatic cuffs.  Two of Shiganshina Prime’s moons had begun their slow crawl through the night sky, and Levi spared an upward glance.  The small planet didn’t have the light pollution of the Capital, but it was enough to mask the stars.  Without even that small glimpse of freedom, he felt trapped.  It was just one of many reasons he hated being planetside.

Heated whispering reached Levi’s ears, and he looked over to see Eld and Gunther standing off to one side.  They were in deep conversation, the latter scowling every so often only to wince when the movement pulled at his injuries.  He sported a split lip, one eye so swollen he could barely see out of it, and a nasty gash down the side of his neck.  Eld hadn’t fared much better with the handful of scrapes on his face and arms, a bloody nose, and what looked like a broken arm.

They’d be out of commission for a while.

Great.

Gunther met Levi’s eye and tipped his chin towards the boy.  It was a silent request for retaliation, but Levi shook his head.  He didn’t need to add another pointless murder to his long list of crimes by leaving the boy’s dead body on the streets not ten minutes after proclaiming he’d escort him to the security center.  There were better, less damning ways to dispose of someone than that.  Besides, he had other plans.

With a reluctant sigh, Gunther turned back to Eld.  His pride had been wounded, but it was nothing he wouldn’t get over.  And no matter how badly he wanted to settle the score, Levi knew he wouldn’t disobey his orders.  Loyalty was something he prized above all else, and his men had proved theirs time and time again.  They trusted him implicitly, and he trusted them in return.  It was how he’d—

A light winked from atop a building across the road.

Levi’s focus snapped to the spot.  He couldn’t make out any details in the darkness, but it had been there.  Someone was on the rooftop.  Could be just a couple kids messing around, trying to find some secluded place to bone or shoot up.  Something about it felt off, though, and he hadn’t survived as much as he had by being complacent.

It was quiet.  Too quiet.  Goosebumps skittered down Levi’s spine as he scanned the surrounding rooflines.  There were shadows amidst the shadows, but it was impossible to tell if they were part of the structure or something more sinister.

Then he saw it.

One of the shadows moved, darting across the rooftop and jumping from one building to the next.  When he spotted another flicker, the unmistakable reflection of moonlight off a barrel, he lunged away from the wall.

“Move now!  We need to—”

A bolt of lightning struck a building down the street, and the resulting explosion drowned out the rest of his words.  All the lights around them went out, plunging them into darkness.  Levi threw out a hand to steady himself as the ground quaked beneath their feet.  As soon as he’d regained some semblance of balance, he was stumbling forward, shoving at his men.

“Go, go, go!” Levi yelled, ducking as bullets riddled the road around them.

Half-blind from the lightning, they zigzagged towards the docks.  Gunfire followed them for a couple blocks, but no sooner had it trailed off when Levi caught a faint whir.  It was the only notice he received before someone dropped into the center of their group from above, knocking both Mike and the boy to the ground.

The attacker aimed a pistol at Mike, but Gunther was on him before he could fire, wielding dual short swords and forcing him back.  Eld drew his own pistol and fired off several shots to protect Levi’s blind side while he took out a second and third assailant with clean, efficient strokes.  He could still hear whirring, though, and more people were dropping from the rooftops around them, each one equipped with interplanetary maneuver gear and armbands bearing a starburst around their left arm.

“The cuffs!”  The boy from the tavern held out his hands.  “Take off the c— cuffs, I can help!”

“No time,” Levi shouted and tossed him the second cutlass he carried instead.

The boy pushed through the pain of the static shocks, caught the cutlass, and swung around just in time to parry a downward blow.  Sparks flew around them from the energized blades, and Levi used the faint light to carve his way through another line of assailants.

“This is squad leader 312,” a masked figure in the back said into a comm fastened to their suit.  “We’ve found him.  I repeat, we—”

Levi shoved his sword through the squad leader’s mouth, cutting off the rest of the report.  He didn’t know who _he_ was, but he didn’t want to stay and find out.  Mike hacked down the last of the attackers and called out the all clear.  With nothing but bodies strewn around them, Levi urged his men into motion yet again.

“On your feet!  Keep going!”

They made it through the rest of town without incident and sprinted down one of the floating docks that jutted off Shiganshina Prime.  Oluo and the woman from the tavern were already aboard _The Legion_ when they got there.  The rest of the crew hurried about the deck disengaging fuel lines, securing their new cargo, and deactivating the anchor system.

“Captain!” Oluo exclaimed, saluting smartly.

Levi acknowledged him with a nod, then punched the button tucked discreetly beneath the railing.  The gangplank dissolved in an iridescent shimmer, and the ship began to bob in the planet’s gravitational waves without that last connecting piece to hold it in place. 

“Get us underway, and get me a bearing for the Rose Nebula,” Levi called to Mike and Hange respectively.  Moving confidently despite the ship’s rolling, he took the stairs up to the quarterdeck two at a time, yelling out orders all the way.  “Loose the topgallants and side sails.  Tie off that rigging.  Initiate the artificial gravity and shields.  Fire up the engines, we’re going to need all the speed we can get.”

The sails dropped just as he reached the helm, and the ship lurched forward with a groan.  Fighting to stay on his feet, he spun the wheel, directing them up and away from Shiganshina Prime.  The higher they climbed, the harder it got to breathe, and he was about to demand where the shields were when the polycarbonate rippled from the vents on either side of the ship, arched into place above the deck, and hardened, protecting them from the rapidly thinning air.

Levi felt it when they crossed atmo and again when they finally caught the interstellar currents.  The sails billowed with the solar winds, and they skated forward through space.  Only then did he let himself relax.  _The Legion_ could outrun any ship in the known galaxies so long as the winds were on her side.

Relinquishing the helm to Mike, Levi joined his crew in leaning over the side of the ship.  Behind them, fires raged across the surface of Shiganshina Prime, burning like beacons in the darkness as the planet crumbled and ships fled in droves.

 

* * *

 

A soft knock echoed through the cabin.

“Come in,” Levi said without looking away from the data pad.  He needed to enter what happened into the captain’s log while everything was still fresh in his mind.  They could analyze the _who’s_ and _why’s_ of the attack later, although he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew the culprit.  He’d seen those armbands before.

The door creaked open.  When no one spoke, Levi glanced up to see the boy from the tavern hovering uncertainly in the doorway.  The electrostatic cuffs were gone, but red welts had formed around his wrists from the repeated shocks.  He rubbed at one absently as he shifted his weight from side to side.

“So,” Levi began, powering down the data pad.  “You made it on board.”

He’d been too preoccupied to give the boy a second thought after the attack, but now that their escape was over, Levi was pleased to find out he’d followed them to the ship instead of making a break for it.  It would’ve been a waste to leave him behind.

“I did, I…”  The boy shrugged, then lifted one hand.  “This is yours.”

Noticing the cutlass he held, Levi stood.  “Yes, it is.  Now stop waffling around and come in already.  And close the door,” he added as an afterthought.

The door shut with a quiet click, and Levi heard the boy move further into the cabin as he retrieved the scabbard he’d hung on the rack in the corner.  That was another good reason the boy made it aboard.  Levi liked that cutlass.

“This is _The Legion_ ,” the boy blurted out, handing over the weapon when Levi came close.  “You’re Captain Levi.  _The_ Captain Levi.”

“So it would seem.”

“Wow…”  The level of awe instilled in the single word had Levi giving him an odd look, and the boy chuckled nervously.  “Sorry, it’s just hard to believe.  All the stories make you out to be this vicious, bloodthirsty pirate.”

“Am I not?” Levi asked wryly.  Their last moments on Shiganshina Prime had been chaotic, but surely the boy hadn’t missed the brutal proficiency with which he’d killed their attackers.

“I mean, of course you have to be when the time calls for it, but still… you saved me.  Twice.  From the center and whoever the fuck those guys were back there.”  The boy took a single step forward and pressed a fist to his chest in a sloppy, albeit earnest, attempt at a pirate’s salute.  “Thank you.”

“You might not want to thank me just yet.”

“I have to.  It’s only right.  I owe you my life, sir.”

“Captain,” Levi corrected.  “And yes, you do, which begs the question… what will you do if I demand it?”

That got the boy’s attention.

The reality of where he was and who he was with must have sunk in because his mouth snapped shut with an audible click.  He visibly withdrew, body tensing, eyes hardening.  In only a matter of seconds, he was on the defensive, poised and ready for a fight.  He hadn’t moved, but Levi could feel the tension in the room grow thick.  It was electric, dangerous, exhilarating.

“Sit,” Levi said and pointed to the chair on the opposite side of the desk as he hung up the scabbard and returned to his own.

The boy didn’t move.  “What’s this about?”

“You’re not really in the best position to be making demands.”

“What the fuck is going on?” the boy asked anyway through gritted teeth in a complete lack of self-regard.

Undoing his cravat so the ends hung loose on either side of his neck, Levi sunk into his chair and casually leaned back.  “I’ve a problem…”  He trailed off, looking to the boy expectantly.

“Eren.”

Levi nodded.  “I’ve a problem, Eren,” he continued.  “While I appreciate you returning my cutlass, you being here complicates things.  You see, you roughed up my two best gunners.  Normally when someone messes with my crew, I string them up and toss them into the drifts like the trash they are.”

“They were eager for a fight, same as everyone else in that tavern,” Eren grumbled.  “Not my fault they couldn’t hold their own.”

“No, but it is your fault if someone comes after us and neither of them can function well enough to aim _The Legion’s_ plasma cannons.”

Eren let out a bitter scoff, hands clenched at his sides.  “So that’s it?  You saved my life so you could kill me yourself?”

“Does that surprise you?  You said it: I’m a vicious, bloodthirsty pirate.  I have a reputation to uphold, Eren, not to mention an obligation to my men.  A captain’s nothing without his crew.”  Arching a brow, Levi tried not to smirk at Eren’s anger.  Riling him up was all too easy.  “Told you not to thank me.”

“What’s the problem, then?  Seems to me like you have it all sorted out.”

“The problem is that I lost almost half my crew a while back.  I’m in need of new men, ones who can fight.  You may have fucked up my gunners, but you came out of both those shitfests with barely a scratch.”  Levi draped one arm over the back of his chair.  “You see my dilemma.”

A heavy silence filled the cabin.  The implication seemed to have taken the wind out of Eren’s sails, easing away the hard edge of his anger.  Seconds ticked soundlessly by as he stared at Levi, bled into minutes, went on for so long Levi started to worry the boy was slow and he’d made a mistake.

“Something wrong?” Levi asked.

The question seemed to spur Eren out of his stupor.  He jerked, coming back to himself.  “Are you…” he began, then hesitated.  “Is this some roundabout way of you offering me a position on your crew?”

“More or less.”

That had been his intention after witnessing Eren in the tavern.  The way he’d jumped to action during the ambush only served to solidify Levi’s decision.  He’d likely get some flak for it – most notably from Eld and Gunther, sore at the permanent loss of revenge – but he needed the best crew he could scavenge.  Eren might be a greenhorn, but he was a fighter.  That was good enough for him.

“That’s a… well, it’s a shitty way of going about it,” Eren said, laughing weakly.  “I really thought you were going to kill me.”

“You haven’t given me an answer yet, so I still might.”

If Eren registered the threat, it didn’t seem to bother him.  “Holy shit,” he breathed.  Still standing in the middle of the cabin, he brushed a hand over his hair, inadvertently pulling a few strands free of the bun so they framed his face.  “Holy shit, I can’t believe you want me to join your crew.”

“ _Want_ is a little strong.  Personally I’d prefer someone older and more experienced, but decent options have been slim.  I have to take what I can get.”

“I honestly don’t even care that you make it sound like I’m a last resort,” Eren said, shaking his head.  “But what if I say no?”

Levi snorted.  “So you can go back to petty thefts and drug running?  Please tell me that’s not the extent of your ambition.  Have you ever even been off planet before this?”

“Once, I think.  When I was a kid.”

Christ, Eren was more of a greenhorn than he thought.

“Look, you know who I am, so you have at least an idea of what you’re getting into.  This is the big leagues.  High risk, high reward.  To do that, I need the best.”  Leaning forward, Levi braced his elbows on the desk and laced his fingers together.  “I deal in treasure, not people, so I’m not going to force you into it.  That’s a piss poor way to foster loyalty anyway.  But I’m man enough to admit we could use someone with your… abilities.”

Eren tucked his hands into his back pockets, rocked on his heels for a moment, then began to meander around the cabin.  Meanwhile, Levi forced himself to remain still.  He wasn’t used to making speeches like that.  There was never a shortage of people willing to join his crew, and most of the time, a casual offer was all that was needed.  The holdup usually came from his high expectations.

He considered himself fairly good at reading people, though, and despite knowing next to nothing about Eren, something about him felt right.  If Erwin had taught him anything before he’d gone and gotten himself killed by that mutinous bastard, it was to trust himself and live without regrets.

“So?” he prompted.  “What do you think?”

Eren, who’d stopped to peruse the built-ins lining one of the cabin walls, cocked his head.  “I think…”  He glanced back over his shoulder with the hint of a smile.  “You’re not quite what I expected.”

“Taller, I’m guessing.”

“Among other things.”  Turning fully, Eren flashed a cheeky smile and crossed his arms.  “I’d love to join, but you might be surprised to hear I have a crew of my own.  Your quartermaster let me comm my friends earlier.  They made it out in time and can pick me up.”

Levi narrowed his eye.  “You said you haven’t been off planet since you were young, which means they probably haven’t either.  Where’d they get a ship?”

“Filched it during the attack.”  Eren finally crossed back to sit in the chair.  He made a show of inspecting his fingernails, ignoring Levi’s unimpressed expression.  “Now that we have one, we’re primed and ready to start our own operation.  What do you have to offer that’s more promising than that?”

“Besides food, weapons, fuel, a seasoned crew, maps for established trade routes as well as off-chart shortcuts, the ability to sail a ship, a cut of every haul we seize, and your life?”

Eren blinked and nodded slowly.  “Fair point.”  He recovered quickly, though, and that grin was back in no time.  “How about a trial run?  To see if I’m a good fit.”

“You’re still bargaining?” Levi asked, exasperated.  “Fuck, you’re an annoying one.”

“All I’m saying is you don’t want to take on someone who doesn’t get along with the rest of your crew.  I’m already starting off on the wrong foot with your gunners.  What if they try to slit my throat in my sleep?”

“They won’t,” Levi assured.  Although, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t put him through the wringer.  “Besides, if things were that bad, I’d just kill you myself and be done with it.  I might do it anyway just to shut you up.”

Eren was turning out to be more trouble than he was worth.  All those idle threats he’d made earlier were starting to look more appealing by the minute.  Dead men floating in the drifts couldn’t backtalk.  Thing was, Levi had been telling the truth.  He needed to flesh out his skeleton crew, and despite all the apparent shortcomings, he liked Eren.  The pros outweighed the cons.

“Fine, you have until we reach Calaneth Sector to decide,” Levi said.  “But just know that you’re not the only one testing the waters.  Fuck up and I might rescind the offer.”  He reached across the desk.  “Deal?”

Eren shook his hand with a smile.  “Deal.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Levi stared down at the figure sprawled across his bed.  Throwing Eren into the crew’s quarters without a proper introduction wouldn’t have gone over well, so he’d offered up his own cabin for the night.  It wasn’t as if the bed got much use anyway.  He slept in his chair more often than not.  Although, if he’d known Eren was going to drool all over his pillow, he might have reconsidered.

“Rise and shine, princess.”  Levi tossed a set of borrowed clothes onto Eren who jerked awake with a grunt.  “Time to earn your keep.”

Sitting up, Eren pulled a sock off his head.  “What’s this?”

“Clothes.  What does it look like?”  Levi dropped a pair of boots beside the bed.  “Get changed.  You look like a planetlubber.”

“I am a planetlubber,” Eren said around a yawn.

“Not anymore you’re not.”  Someone rapped loudly on the door, and Levi saw the chronometer on his desk read 0630 IST.  Right on schedule.  He motioned to the clothes as he crossed the room.  “Hurry up.  If I have to tell you again, you’ll be swabbing the deck in your underwear.”

“What if I’m not wearing underwear?”  Levi stopped short, one hand on the doorknob, but Eren was already laughing.  “Kidding!  I’m just kidding.”

He held Eren’s gaze long enough for the atmosphere to grow uncomfortable and his laugh to trail awkwardly off.  What had he gotten himself into?  After another pointed look to the clothes, he took a deep breath to brace himself for the upcoming interaction and opened the door.  He was immediately met with Hange, appearing far too energetic for someone who’d been up half the night on watch.  Not that he expected anything less.

“Status report!” they said, saluting.

“Proceed.”

“Ship’s running smoothly.  No damage sustained in the fall of Shiganshina Prime, cargo hold is full, and fuel stores are just over seventy percent.  Nanaba’s started divvying up the cache.  It should be ready for transfer when we reach Calaneth Sector.”

“Good.  And our progress?”

“The currents started drifting a couple hours ago, so Mike boosted the engines to keep us on course.  I know you wanted to save fuel, but it shouldn’t use too much.  We’re still running downwind.  If conditions hold, we should pass beneath the Utgard Ruins in— who’s that?”

Levi slid over to block their view.  “No one.”

However, Hange just popped up onto their toes to peek over his head, the beginnings of a smirk curling their lips.  “Doesn’t look like no one to me.”

“That’s because your glasses are as dirty as your mind.”

“I don’t know, Captain… looks an awful lot like you picked up a friend back on Shiganshina.”  Hange waggled their brows.  “And by friend, I mean  _friend_.”

Levi glanced over his shoulder to where Eren was still sitting in the middle of his bed.  He’d already stripped off his shirt, and the sheets pooling around his waist made it impossible to tell whether he was wearing pants or not.  Between that and his mussed hair, it was no wonder Hange got that idea.  Levi felt his cheeks grow warm at the insinuation and pasted on a severe scowl to compensate.

“He’s a new recruit.  Well, possible recruit.”

“I’m sure he is,” Hange sang.

Apparently frustrated with trying to sort out the new clothes, Eren threw aside the sheets – oh thank fuck, he  _was_  wearing pants – and crawled out of bed.  He stood with his back to them as he finally pulled the shirt free, giving them an unimpeded view of rich, golden skin.  Even if he managed not to act like a greenhorn, there’d be no fooling the crew.  Suns were few and far between in deep space.  Only those who lived planetside boasted tans like that.

Hange hummed appreciatively.  “You lucky dog.”

“Would you shut it,” Levi growled, whipping back around and stepping forward in an attempt to crowd Hange out of the doorway.

“I’m just saying I didn’t think you had it in you.”  They craned their neck even as they retreated, trying to keep an eye on Eren.  “I can’t remember the last time you brought someone back to your cabin.  We should celebrate.”

Levi followed Hange onto the quarterdeck and pulled the door partway closed behind him.  At the helm, Keiji wisely ignored them.  “There’s nothing to celebrate because nothing happened,” Levi said.  “And for the record, the reason you never know is because  _I’m_  capable of discretion.”  Privacy was virtually nonexistent aboard the ship, but he tried.

“Are you implying something, Captain?”

“Don’t give me that look.  You know damn well what I’m talking about.  I told you weeks ago to cut out that shit with Berner in the crow’s nest.”

“It’s a challenge!  The risk is half the fun,” Hange countered, then crossed their arms.  “But anyway, you’re deflecting.  Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose.  It was too early for this.  “Fucking hell, you’re worse than Mike.  At least he knows when to shut up.  Just… get out of here.”  He physically spun Hange and gave them a slight push towards the stairs.  “Go help Dita sound the tanks.”

“Alright, alright.”  Hange trudged off, but halfway down to the main deck they paused.  Flashing a wide grin, they called back, “For what it’s worth, I like him.”

“You don’t even know him.”

“He’s got you all hot and bothered.  What’s not to like?”

Gritting his teeth, Levi exhaled a long-suffering sigh.  “Get out of here, Hange,” he repeated.  “That’s an order.”

They disappeared with a cackle, and Levi took a moment to soak in the silence.  Hot and bothered… ridiculous.  If Hange wasn’t such a critical part of the crew, he’d have dumped them on some random planet years ago.  An uninhabited one, obviously.  Setting them loose anywhere else wouldn’t be fair to the unsuspecting populace.  Unfortunately, they _were_ essential, and until he found someone even half as good at mapping out shortcuts through the uncharted voids, he was stuck with them.

Levi took a deep breath and briefly locked eyes with Keiji.  “Not a word,” he said.

“Aye, Captain.”

With one last scan to make sure nothing was amiss, Levi returned to his cabin.  Tea was usually reserved for the evenings when he needed help relaxing, but a cup sounded really good right then.  He might even break out the honey.  Indulge a bit.  He opened the door in time to catch an eyeful of Eren’s bare ass.  On second thought, maybe he’d go straight for the hard liquor.

“Sorry!” Eren said, yanking his pants back up.  “I didn’t think you’d be back so quick.  Do you… have a bathroom or something I could use?”

Levi merely shook his head.  “Yes, but there’s no point.  You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”  He rounded his desk and withdrew a flask from one of the drawers.  What a morning.

“Right, um… okay.”

Instead of changing, Eren stood there, frozen in place, knuckles white around the waistband of his pants.  Levi arched a brow.  When Eren still refused to continue, he rolled his eye.  “You’re going to have to lose that modesty if you plan to stay on.  It’s just a dick.  Nothing to be ashamed of.”  He cocked his head.  “Unless you  _do_  have something to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed,” Eren shot back and shoved down his pants and boxers.

Levi considered a handful of responses just to mess with him but decided against it.  They needed to get moving.  There was never a shortage of things to do, and they’d wasted enough time as it was.  He did turn around to give Eren his privacy, though.  Let him enjoy it while it lasted.

“So who was that?” Eren asked after a moment.

The far wall of the cabin was comprised almost entirely of windows, and Levi watched the stars drift by as he brought the flask to his mouth, tipped his head back, and let the rum burn down his throat.  “Hange Zoë, our resident sailing master.  You’ll want to watch out for them.”

“Good to know.  They seemed a bit… excitable.”

Levi snorted.  “That’s one way to put it.”

“I’ll be sure to be careful.”  If only Eren knew how little that mattered.  Hange would get to him one way or another.  “But it sounds like we’ve been making good time,” he continued.  “Any idea when we’ll reach Calaneth Sector?”

“Three weeks.  Little less if the winds hold strong, although I wouldn’t get your hopes up.  They usually die out around the Titan Forest Belt.” 

Levi hated that belt.  Worst stretch in the whole fucking galaxy.  The molecular cloud was too dense for the winds to push through, so the entire area was nothing but dead space.  They always had to fire up the engines to keep moving.  High rates of star formation also meant the interior was a hotspot for solar storms.  He only risked it because going around took twice as long and brought them too close to the MP’s regular route.

“That’s it?  I was figuring it’d take at least a month.  Okay, you can turn around,” Eren added.  “I’m pretty much done.”

Levi took another shallow swig, capped the flask, and placed it back in the drawer.  “Any other ship and it would.”

“ _The Legion’s_  in a class of her own, that’s for sure.”  On the edge of the bed, Eren leaned over to tug on the second boot.  “I’m actually really excited to get to Calaneth.  I’ve heard a lot about its markets.  Did you know all the nobles in the Capital get their jewels there?  Traders say they have sapphires, emeralds, and rubies the size of your head.  And that doesn’t even get into the weapons.  They have some of the best tech in the known galaxies.  What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on one of their sonic blasters.”

Levi crossed his arms, brows furrowed.

At his serious expression, Eren’s excitement wavered.  “What?” he asked uncertainly.

“You don’t seem very torn up about your home planet being attacked.”  If anything, he seemed unfazed by the entire ordeal, happy to act like it never happened.

“Oh.”  Eren lifted one shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck.  “I suppose I’m not.  Shiganshina was where I lived.  That didn’t make it home.  Maybe it was once, but that was a long time ago.  A lot’s changed since then.  My friends made it out safe and sound.  That’s all I cared about.”

There was more to the story.  Levi could see it in the tense set of his mouth and the guarded look in his eyes.  Eren had a past.  An unpleasant one, if he were to guess.  But he clearly wasn’t keen on talking about it just yet, and that was something Levi could respect.  Every member of his crew had a reason for joining.  Some were running away from the past.  Others were running towards something greater.  Motives didn’t matter, though.  So long as Eren was loyal and trustworthy, his secrets were his to keep.

“Fair enough,” Levi said, tipping his head towards the door.  “You ready, then?”

Eren scrubbed his hands down his thighs.  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”  Standing, he held his arms out to either side.  “How do I look?”

Levi took in the finished product.  The pants were a little snug, but everything else was a good fit.  Eren had tucked in the loose shirt and rolled the sleeves up past his elbows.  The deep neckline framed the mess of beaded and rope necklaces around his neck, one of which sported a golden key, and the edge of a tattoo was barely visible beneath the fabric.  The only thing missing was a knife strapped to the wide belt slung around his waist, but that would have to wait until he’d earned the right to bear one.

“Like a pirate,” Levi said honestly.  “Now let’s see if you can act like one.”

In the time it had taken for Eren to change clothes, the rest of the crew had gotten up for the day, and outside the cabin, the ship was a flurry of activity and noise.  Levi led the way past the helm to the quarterdeck ballast.  When he realized Eren was hanging several steps back, he drug him forward to stand beside him.

“Alright, listen up!” Levi called out, thumping a fist against the wood railing.  On the deck below, the crew paused their tasks.  “Everyone, this is Eren.  He’ll be with us until Calaneth Sector, maybe longer if he plays his cards right.  That means no killing.”

Levi’s attention slid to Gunther and Eld.  The blue light from the bioluminescent orbs mounted strategically around the ship emphasized the disappointed scowls that flitted across their faces, but it was only a brief reaction.  Resignation was quick to set in when they noticed the way his focus lingered.

“I want you all to make sure he feels nice and welcome.  Eren…”  Levi swept a hand towards the crew.  “This is everyone.”

Eren leaned closer.  “Nice and welcome, huh?” he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.  “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to enjoy this?”

“Because you won’t.”  Levi grasped his shoulder and steered him towards Mike who was waiting at the stairs with a wry smile.  “Hop to it, sailor.”

 

* * *

 

“What do you think of him?” Levi asked Mike a few days later.

They stopped replacing the weathered boards on the fighting top to look through the gap left between the platform and the foremast.  Below, Eren had just finished lugging a large coil of rope from the cargo hold and was now dragging it towards the capstan.  Levi hadn’t spoken with him since that first morning when he’d sent him off, but everything must have been going at least decently well if he hadn’t gotten wind of anything from either Eren or the crew.

“He’s good.  Eager to learn, lots of energy, hard worker.  A little shit at times, but that’s to be expected.”  Fitting a new board in place, Mike held out a hand.  “Hange likes him.”

Levi passed him the driver.  “So I’ve heard.”

While Mike drove new bolts, Levi alternated between prying out the old ones and watching Eren.  The old rope used to lift cargo and hoist masts had begun to fray, and he’d been tasked with exchanging it for the spare kept in the hold.  It was normally a two-person job, but the crew had left him to maneuver it on his own.  Levi had been right.  They were definitely putting him through the wringer.

“Have you decided what to do with the girl?”

Levi’s attention moved to the barmaid shadowing Oluo at the helm.  Petra, if he remembered correctly.  “Not really,” he said.  She stayed out of the way, and he’d even noticed her helping out in the galley.  So long as she pulled her weight, he didn’t have a problem with her hitching a ride to Calaneth.

“Well, you should talk to Oluo.”  Mike swiped away the sweat beading on his forehead with the back of his arm.  “Everyone’s tired of listening to them fuck.”

“And ruin his fun?”

Mike huffed a laugh.  “I suppose he doesn’t get chances like this very often.  At least rearrange his schedule to give them some alone time, though.  They try to be quiet, but Oluo’s a talker, and fucking isn’t really a quiet activity to start with.”

“Will do,” Levi said, forcing away the image of Oluo dirty talking his way through an orgasm.  There were some things no one should have to witness.

The last of the bolts slipped free without much of a fight, and Levi began wrenching out the rest of the rotten boards and dropping them to the vacated forecastle deck.  When one clattered off the ever-growing pile, Eren glanced first to it, then up to Levi on the fighting top.  He offered a small smile and lifted one hand, but Levi resumed his job without returning either gesture.

Mike handed him a stack of new boards.  “Do  _you_  like him?”

“Eren?” Levi asked, and Mike hummed.  “He’s on board, isn’t he?”

“So is the girl.  That doesn’t mean you like them, it means you’re not heartless enough to toss them into the drifts.”

Eren began the slow, painstaking process of winding the rope around the capstan.  He’d make a couple loops, stop to untangle the rest of the rope, straighten a length of it out across the deck.  Then he’d take a small break to stretch before doing it all again.  Levi watched him repeat the movements over and over.  It was backbreaking work – the rope was thick and incredibly heavy – but he did it all by himself without once complaining.

Feeling the weight of Mike’s regard, Levi shrugged nonchalantly.  “He’s okay.”

 

* * *

 

Wispy light filtered through the windows, brightening the cabin for a second.  The song that had been just a distant echo grew louder, and Levi’s eye closed at the haunting melody.  Heat began to curl through him, a simmer in the beginning before it swelled into desire so strong he ached.  He wanted the press of hands and teeth scraping along his skin, needed to feel the desperation of a body moving with his.  Exhaling a ragged breath, he pushed back in the chair and palmed his hardening cock.

“Fuck,” he hissed into the darkness.

A sudden thump against the ceiling jerked him back to reality, and Levi’s eye shot open.  The song was still there, calling to him, doing its best to draw him in, but his mind had cleared enough for him to realize what was going on.  Clenching his teeth, he zipped up the pants he didn’t remember undoing, slammed his hands down on the desk, and stomped across the room.

When Levi opened the door, he found the ship bathed in an otherworldly glow.  There was no one else on deck, but beyond the shields, more than twenty different streams of light dipped and spun through the stars in an intricate dance.  Every so often, they’d slow down.  The light would dim and they would solidify into something mildly tangible and vaguely human before taking off again with a lilting laugh.  Arching over all of it was their enchanting song.

Levi drew his pistol and fired at one.  The polycarbonate momentarily softened to allow the outgoing shot, and the figures whirled to a safer distance with a mournful cry that made his heart lurch despite knowing better.  The pistol’s sharp report did expel the last of the music from his ears, though.  It lessened the unnatural ache he felt at seeing them flee.

“No, wait, don’t leave!”

The voice came from somewhere above and behind him, and Levi searched for the source.  It was well past midnight.  The only person that should’ve been awake was Eld, but the person he’d heard sounded nothing like the gunner.  Climbing the ladder to the navigation deck, Levi found Eren hanging halfway off the rear of the ship, one hand waving wildly while the other kept a precarious hold on the flagpole.

“Please come back,” Eren cried out.  “You’re so beautiful.  I’ve never seen anything like you in my life.  I won’t hurt you, I promise.  I just want to—”

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Eren almost slipped in his haste to turn around.  Pale shades of pink, blue, and green played across his features as he stared at Levi in a daze, not quite seeing him.  “I… they…”

“I’ll tell you what you’re doing.”  Levi sidestepped the boots Eren had cast off – that must have been the thump he heard – and approached.  “You’re about to jump ship for a creature that will drag you out into the open voids as soon as look at you.”

“They wouldn’t,” Eren began, shaking his head vehemently.  “No, they wouldn’t do that.  They’re calling to me, can’t you hear it?  They  _want_  me to go with them.”

“What they  _want_  is to kill you.”

“But—”

“Listen,” Levi interrupted.  “Why don’t you come down from there?  We can talk about this when you’re not in a prime position to commit suicide.”

Eren just clung tighter to the flagpole.  “You’re only saying that because you want them all to yourself!”

Levi barked a mocking laugh.  “Hardly.”  He’d seen too many men leap to their deaths to be fooled.  But Eren wasn’t him.  He was young and inexperienced and hopelessly ensnared, and if Levi didn’t do something, the stupid fool was going to get himself killed.  With a sigh, he withdrew a pair of one-way earplugs from his pocket and held them out.  “If you’re not going to come down, at least put these in.  You’ll be able to hear them better,” he lied when Eren hesitated.

The effect was instantaneous.

As soon as the earplugs were in place, Eren’s entire countenance changed.  Levi could practically see the clarity return, and with it, a healthy dose of embarrassment.  Eren’s face was flushed a deep red, and he kept his eyes averted even as Levi offered a hand to help him back onto the navigation deck.

“Sorry about that,” Eren mumbled, hopping down onto unsteady legs and pulling on his boots.  “What are those things?”

“Sirens.”  Leaning on the ship’s railing, Levi watched one of the streams of light wend its way closer.  It was braver than the rest to try again so soon.  “They like to come out during the late watches.  Sailors are always more susceptible when they’re tired.”

“I thought sirens were just a myth.”

“If only.  Fucking pests is what they are.  Their song’s enough to drive a person mad.  You’re well aware now of the influence they can have, although it only drives your actions if you’re awake.  Still…”  Levi’s lips quirked.  “You can bet the rest of the crew is probably having wet dreams right about now.”

The siren that had been making its way steadily closer stopped.  A rainbow of colors folded in on itself in a dizzying swirl until a feminine face and torso suddenly emerged.  The remaining lights extended behind it in a shimmering trail.  Levi heard Eren suck in a sharp breath when it winked, and the laugh that followed was like a chiming bell.  It was enough to make Levi’s heart beat faster.  Thankfully, Eren couldn’t hear it anymore.

“Do you recognize her?”

“No,” Eren said, looking back and forth between Levi and the siren with a frown.  “Should I?”

Levi shrugged.  “Just curious.  I’ve seen them shapeshift into whatever a person wants most.  Wasn’t sure if that’s what it was doing, putting on a face like that.  Either way, it’s all a trick.  They can’t cross the shields, so they have to find a way to make you go to them.  Keep those earplugs handy and you shouldn’t have to worry about it.”

Turning his back to the siren, Eren reached for the earplugs.  “Do you…?”  But Levi waved him off.

“Keep them.  There’s plenty on board.  I’ll get another pair tomorrow.  You just better hope your friends don’t stumble across any.  If they’re as green as you, there’s no telling what might happen.”

“Yeah, I should probably comm them tomorrow,” Eren agreed.  “Make sure they’re doing okay.”

They settled into a comfortable silence beneath the soft siren light.  This was when Levi enjoyed being out on the ship most.  Middle of the night, no hustle and bustle of daily tasks needing to be completed.  Nothing but him, the stillness, and the endless expanse of space.  Judging by Eren’s peaceful expression as he stared through the sails at the far-off stars, he felt the same.

The distraction gave Levi a chance to study him.  There was something special about being off planet for the first time, and he absently wondered how Eren was faring.  He hadn’t exactly been eased into things.  It was a hard truth that came with joining a new crew, but Levi was still hit with a slight pang of guilt at the thought of Eren not being able to take even a single second for himself and just… see.  Admire where he was.  Not aboard  _The Legion_ , but out in the wilds of space.  Everyone deserved the chance to truly experience the vastness of it, feel humbled by how insignificant they all were in the grand scope of things.

Clearing his throat, Levi broke the silence.  “So what happened to Eld?  He was supposed to be on third watch tonight.”

“I offered to take it.”

“You mean he foisted it off on you.”

Eren chuckled but didn’t bother denying it.  “It’s fine.  I get it, I’m the rookie.  I’ve got a lot to prove.”

“And your hands?”  Shifting his weight, Levi reached out to grasp one of Eren’s wrists, rotated it so he could inspect the bandages wound tightly around his palm.  “Were you trying to prove something then, too?”

“No, that one was all me.  I was restringing the shroud supports.”  Eren curled his fingers and pressed them lightly to the edge of the bandage.  “One of the cables slipped.”

Levi’s disbelief quickly morphed into frustration.  “Well of course you’d shred your hands doing that,” he snapped.  “Why didn’t you use the fucking gloves?”  There was a difference between trying to prove one’s worth and just being an idiot, and he didn’t have time for the latter.

Eren stared at him blankly.  “What gloves?  Gunther didn’t say anything about gloves.”

It clicked, then, for both of them.  Eren pulled his hand free, rested his elbows on the railing behind him, and looked out over the rest of the ship while Levi directed his glare past him at nothing in particular.  Good-natured hazing was one thing.  Deliberately causing harm was another.  They didn’t need to waste medicinal patches on injuries that could’ve easily been prevented.

Focus drifting back to Eren, Levi was somewhat surprised by the faint smile he wore.  “You’re not upset,” he said, more statement than question.

Eren shook his head.  “No.”

“You’re telling me after all the shit they’ve put you through, you don’t care.  Not even the least bit.”

“It’s their way of getting back at me.  They’ll get tired of it eventually, and if it makes them feel better in the meantime, I say go ahead.”  When Eren glanced at him, there was a mischievous edge to his smile that hadn’t been there before.  “Doesn’t change the fact that I kicked their asses.”

Levi’s eye flicked back and forth between Eren’s until pink and orange light fell over the navigation deck.  The siren that had taken on the female guise was now floating just beyond the shield.  Noticing his attention, it let out a warbling note that made Levi shiver.  He disguised the involuntary reaction by lifting his pistol in warning, and the siren wept a few glimmering tears.  However, as soon as Eren turned around to see what was going on, it twirled in place with a happy trill.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Eren asked, eyes following the siren as it beckoned.

“It does, I’m just more accustomed to dealing with them.”  That it was doling out the majority of its charms on Eren helped.  If it focused on him at this proximity, even he would have a hard time resisting.

The siren draped itself over the shield and blew a kiss made of stardust their way.  The glittering silver and gold settled along the polycarbonate, and Levi watched Eren out of the corner of his eye, watched the way the lights and stardust reflected in those sea-green eyes.  He’d been expecting a brash greenhorn that would need to be whipped into shape, and while that was still partially true, there was more to Eren than he originally thought.

Levi returned his gaze to the siren.  Tomorrow he’d have a talk with the crew and tell them to lay off.  It was time to see what Eren was really made of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who's left kudos or commented <3 they're all so incredibly encouraging!
> 
> Random note - IST is meant to stand for Intergalactic Standard Time.
> 
> Updates and items of inspiration are being tracked [here](http://stalrua.tumblr.com/tagged/a-hurricane-raging) on tumblr.


	3. Chapter 3

Lightning skittered behind the molecular clouds of the Titan Forest Belt like angry, jagged serpents.  Most of the time it would branch around the dense clumps of star formation, but every so often the two would connect in a thunderous explosion, resulting in a haze of interstellar dust that masked the path through the belt.  Meanwhile, the newly-exposed gas cores instigated even more lightning in a self-perpetuating cycle.

One such bolt burst from the clouds to strike _The Legion’s_ port side.

Keeping a firm grip on the wheel to hold the ship steady, Levi watched electricity crackle along the shield before scowling down at the broken foremast lying across the deck.

The storm had stirred up out of nowhere.  Initial shock waves usually came from below, allowing them to safely ride the swell of energy, but this one had come at them broadside.  There’d been no time to ramp up the stabilizers.  The blast had rammed into them, and Levi had been forced to stand by as the foremast splintered at the base, then collapsed in a jumbled mess of sails and rigging.

It would’ve been a manageable setback – more an annoyance than anything; one more thing to repair when they cleared the belt – if not for the lightning rod affixed to its tip.  Without it extending beyond the shields to draw the brunt of the lightning, they were vulnerable.

“We have to get that rod back up,” Mike yelled over the mêlée.  “The shields can’t take another hit like that.”

“Are you volunteering?” Levi shot back.  Moving the rod to the main mast involved going past the shields.  Dangerous on a normal day.  In a storm like this, it was practically suicide.

“If that’s what it takes, yeah.”

A streak of lightning snaked close to the ship, illuminating the deck.  One of the first strikes had fried their power grid.  The bioluminescent orbs were down, as well as the navigation system.  The only light they had to work with now came from the very lightning they were trying to avoid.  Through the intermittent flashes, Levi watched Mike lean over the quarterdeck ballast, catch the end of the tossed rope, brace himself against the railing, and heave.  Thankfully, they could still move around.  Berner’s insistence on a backup generator for their artificial gravity had paid off. 

“Rod’s loose!” someone suddenly called from below, and the ship shuddered as the foremast fell back against the deck.  Not long after, Mike came up beside him.

“Permission to proceed.”  Lightning glanced off the shield, and Levi could see Mike’s bleeding, rope-burned hands in his periphery.  “Captain!” the quartermaster urged when another connected more forcefully.

However, Levi ignored him, too distracted by the figure scaling the main mast.

“Is that…?” Mike began.

Levi just growled under his breath.  What the hell did Eren think he was doing?  He had barely a week’s worth of experience aboard _The Legion_ , yet there he was climbing the mast, lightning rod strapped to his back and roll of wire slung over one arm.  He’d even swiped someone’s gear.  Levi could see the telltale black band around his wrist.

“The kid’s got guts, I’ll give him that,” Mike said.  “Does he know how to activate the gear?”

“If he doesn’t, he’s dead.”

“Either way, it’s not going to be pretty.”  Mike jerked his chin upward.  Sulfuric acid had begun to rain against the shield.  “That stuff burns like a mother even with the suit.”

It felt like a long time, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before Eren had passed the crow’s nest and was climbing the last few feet to the tip.  He paused beneath the shield to flip the switch on the band.  A transparent mask immediately formed over his head and the air around his body darkened with the interplanetary maneuver gear’s protective suit.  At least he wouldn’t die from exposure.

Levi watched Eren haul himself through the shield to sit on the hard outer shell.  Lightning snarled dangerously close while he maneuvered the rod into place, and the acidic rain had steam rising off the suit in wispy tendrils.  He needed to hurry.  The more time he spent out there, the less likely his chances of making it back alive.  As if to prove his point, another shock wave made the ship pitch and roll, and Eren slid backwards.

“Foot inside,” Levi mumbled.  “Keep your foot in the shield.”

It was the only way the polycarbonate would allow him back through.  If Eren went outside it completely, the shield would harden behind him, and they’d be forced to leave him out there.  No captain – not even Erwin – would risk lowering the shields in the middle of a storm.  He grabbed hold of the mast at the last second, though, and was quickly back at it.

Gaze glued to Eren, Levi continued to ramble.  “Wrap the wire tight.  No gaps.  That’s it, that’s good, now tie it off.  Get out of there before—”

Eren pulled his hands away in a clear signal that he was finished, but no sooner had a loud cheer rose from the crew than a lightning bolt struck the rod, sending out a shower of sparks and blowing Eren back through the shield.

“Shit!”

Levi abandoned the wheel and rushed towards the ballast as Eren tumbled head over foot through the air.  He was already seeking out the activation switch for his own gear when Eren managed to shoot out a wire.  The grappling hook missed the mizzenmast, tearing through the sail instead, but the thick canvas offered enough resistant to slow his fall.  He ended up swinging into the fallen foremast and tripping forward onto the deck with a loud _oomph_.

The crew was on him in no time.  With the lightning no longer a threat, they were free to help Eren to his feet.  As soon as the maneuver gear was deactivated, he stripped off his shirt.  Even from the quarterdeck, Levi could see the red pockmarks left by the acidic rain that had burned through both the suit and his clothes.

“Not bad for a greenhorn,” Mike said.  He’d taken over Levi’s post at the helm.  “You seemed pretty worried for a minute there, Captain.”

Levi glanced over his shoulder and frowned at Mike’s knowing smile.  “Tch.  Worried I’d have to clean his brains off the deck, maybe.”

Before Mike could say anything else, Levi descended the steps to the main deck.  The crew parted to allow him through, and when he finally stood before Eren, he wasn’t even surprised by the wild gleam in his eyes.  He was well near high on adrenaline and the general thrill of facing down death and surviving.  Levi spotted a winged tattoo on Eren’s chest, directly above his heart, and although it was marred by burns, it fit.  He looked so god damn _alive_.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Levi called out over the ruckus.  “We’re not out of this storm yet.  Everyone get back to your stations, and give the idiot some space.”

There were a lot of parting praises and claps on the back.  Even Gunther shook Eren’s hand and offered a congratulatory _Good job, Jaeger_.  All the while, Levi patiently waited, arms crossed as he took in the exchanges.  Eren’s willingness to sacrifice his own well-being for the sake of the crew was a much better ingratiation into their ranks than Levi’s order to cut him some slack would ever be.

Once they were alone, Eren tucked his hands into his pockets and flashed a cheeky grin.  “Idiot, huh?  I know you have to keep up appearances, but it’s okay if you want to call me a hero in private.  I don’t mind.”

“As long as you don’t mind me smacking you around a bit while I’m at it.  Don't get cocky.  You’re not a hero, you were just doing your duty.  Anyone else would’ve done the same.”  Eren deflated a bit, but Levi didn’t regret his brusqueness.  Arrogance was a quick way to make mistakes.  Better to nip that trait in the bud.  His tone was softer, though, when he continued.  “I didn’t know you were familiar with maneuver gear.”

“Actually, I'm not.  I’d heard about it plenty growing up, but the first time I ever saw it in person was during the attack on Shiganshina.”

The seconds drug out as Levi blinked at him.  “You’re telling me you’ve never used it before?”  When Eren shook his head, he frowned.  “So the bit with the hook…?”

Eren shrugged.  “Lucky guess.  I felt the trigger in the glove.  Figured I might as well try it since I was about to die anyway.”

Son of a bitch.

Lucky guess, indeed.

Some of the tension bled away, and Levi’s eye flicked to the band still around Eren’s wrist.  “Whose did you steal?”

“Gunther’s,” Eren admitted, ducking his head.  A sheepish smile crept across his face despite his best efforts.  “Please don’t tell him.  I think he’s finally starting to like me.”

Levi couldn’t help but huff a laugh at that one, and Eren brightened in response, realizing he wasn’t going to be reprimanded for his actions.  In all honesty, he probably should.  He should’ve left the job to someone who knew what they were doing.  But it had all worked out in the end.  They’d lost some time and had a few repairs to see to, but it wasn’t anything detrimental.  No one had died, and the ship was still operational.  All in all, he’d consider that another successful pass through the belt.

Without warning, the bioluminescent orbs blinked to life around them.  Levi glanced back to the helm, and Mike looked up from the panel fitted into the center of the wheel to give him a thumbs-up.  Apparently, the navigation system was working again also.  Someone must have fixed the power grid.

Now with a steady source of light, Levi was able to better see the burns scattered across Eren’s arms and torso.  They looked relatively minor, but it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion.  Sulfuric acid was nothing to joke about.

“Go find Hange and have them look at those,” Levi said, gesturing to the wounds.  “Then put on a shirt.  I don’t care what you did, no one gave you permission to run around half naked.”

Eren smirked.  “In my defense, you didn’t say I couldn’t.”

“Don’t run around half naked on my ship.  Is that clear enough for you?”

Chuckling, Eren took his discarded shirt from Levi.  “Yes, Captain.”  When their fingers touched, residual static buildup shocked them both.

“Good.  Now get out of here.  I don’t want to see you again until Hange’s cleared you for duty.”

Eren snapped to attention, saluted, and spun on his heel.  The rest of the crew were hurrying about the ship, and he weaved through them on his way to the stairs that led below deck, ruined shirt tossed over one shoulder.  There were plenty of things Levi needed to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to move just yet.  He stayed there, rooted to the spot, until Eren disappeared from sight.

 

* * *

 

_“I’ve been a wild rover for many a year, and I’ve spent all my money on whiskey and beer.  But now I’m returning with gold in great store, and I never will play the wild rover no more.”_

Abel strummed the guitar and sang the old drinking song while Nifa played along on a fiddle.  Everyone else had formed a loose circle around the deck, and in the center, Eren and Petra danced around a casket of ale that had been brought up from the hold.  Off to the side, Levi watched the scene from atop one of the cargo crates.  It wasn’t often he allowed evenings like this, but the crew deserved it after making it through the belt.

 _“I’ll home to my parents, confess what I’ve done, and I’ll ask them to pardon their prodigal son.  And when they’ve caressed me as oft times before, I never will play the wild rover no more.”_ Everyone lifted their tankards and half-sang, half-yelled along for the chorus.  _“And it’s no, nay, never!  No, nay, never no more.  Will I play the wild rover, no, never no more.”_

The music trailed off into raucous cheering, and Levi took an obligatory drink with the others, ignoring the pair of eyes that kept landing on him.  It was no use, though.  Abel and Nifa had barely started up the next song – a fast-paced jig that had the crew clapping and stomping – before Hange made their way over.

“What do you want?” Levi asked when they hopped up to sit on the crate beside him.

“You looked lonely.  Thought you could use some company.”

Levi snorted.  “More like you wanted to annoy me.”

“Is it so hard to believe I just wanted to spend time with you?”  Pouting, Hange placed a hand over their heart.  “You never give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“That’s because your track record more than speaks for itself.”

The façade was gone as quickly as it had come.  With an easy smile, Hange took another drink of ale and wiped the foam off on their sleeve.  “I don’t know if Mike told you, but Ragako is in eclipse.  The alignment’s throwing off the winds.  It’ll probably take us every bit of the three weeks to reach Calaneth Sector.”

“I figured as much.  Have we sent word to the buyers?”  Delays were typical, but buyers didn’t like to be kept waiting without a heads-up.

“We will now that our transmission satellite has signal again.”

“Good.”

Levi leaned back on one arm and looked past the stern.  They’d left the Titan Forest Belt behind, but he could still see it in the distance.  Charged particles from the storm were reacting with the atmospheric gases, creating a river of green and blue lights that weaved across the surface of the dense cloud.  Aurora was the official term, but a lot of the old-timers called them Northern Lights.  Technicalities didn’t matter, though.  They were only visible on the backside of solar storms, so as long as he lived to see them, he didn’t care what they were called.

“I told you he was fine,” Hange said.  Confused, Levi followed their gaze to Eren who was now laughing and leading Petra around the deck in a dance that involved more skipping and hopping than actual dancing.  “Do you believe me now?”

“I believed you then.”

Within only a few hours, Hange had sent Eren back to Levi, cleared and ready to work.  His arms and chest had borne the brunt of the acidic rain, but as Levi suspected, the injuries were minor.  Nothing a few medicinal patches couldn’t fix.  Eren was now fit to perform any task asked of him.  Still…

“A couple extra days on light duty won’t hurt him,” Levi continued, lifting his tankard to his mouth.  “He’s new.  I don’t want him to get burnt out on his maiden voyage.”

Hange arched a brow.  “You’re getting soft in your old age.  Good thing Eren’s still young.  He’s not soft at all.  Well, not where it counts.  For someone who grew up planetside, he’s surprisingly fit.”

“You need to go find Berner before you do something you’ll regret.”

“Who says I’d regret it?”  Levi shot them a long, hard look, but Hange just laughed.  “Lighten up, Captain.  I’m not going to fuck the greenhorn.  I’m simply making a general observation.  Seriously, though… you’ve gotten a good look at him.  Twice, actually.  You can’t say you’re not the least bit intrigued.”

A new round of shouting drowned out any reply he might have had, and Levi took advantage of the distraction, attention returning to the deck.  In the center of the circle, Eren had just spun Petra into Oluo’s arms.  There was a brief pause where they stared at each other in surprise, then the new pair took off.  Oluo stumbled a few times, not nearly as confident or carefree as Eren, but he tried.  If nothing else, the ale had helped loosen him up.

It wasn’t long after that the circle began to gradually dissolve.  Without Eren and Petra’s wild antics as entertainment, more people began to join in the dance.  Others drifted closer to the casket for a refill.  Levi scanned the crew until he eventually spotted Eren, now on the fringe of those still dancing.  His eyes were already on Levi, although he didn’t even look abashed to be caught staring.  With a crooked grin, he extended one hand and made an exaggerated show of bowing low.  Beside Levi, Hange laughed and sputtered and coughed on their ale.

“Nice try, Eren,” they called out above the music.  “Everyone knows the captain doesn’t dance.”

Eren was determined, though.  That, or drunk off his ass.  Either way, he held the position until Levi shook his head in a confirmation of his own.  Only then did he turn away, pulling Nanaba into a dance instead.  Levi followed them for a moment before tipping his head back to down the rest of his ale.

“I’m calling it a night,” he told Hange, setting aside his tankard and jumping off the crate.  “Make sure Dita isn’t so far gone he can’t handle first watch.  And don’t let them pull out another casket.  One’s enough for tonight.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Levi expected Hange to tease him for turning in, so the relatively quiet response came as somewhat of a surprise.  It wasn’t enough to make him stop, though.  He climbed up to the quarterdeck, ducked into his cabin, and closed the door firmly behind him without looking back.

 

* * *

 

The music was still going strong when someone knocked nearly an hour later.  Levi leaned back in his chair, contemplating whether to answer or not.  Despite the late hour, sleep was a distant thing, so he’d decided to check Nanaba’s progress on the cache.  Now that he was halfway through, he didn’t feel like stopping.  Last thing he wanted was to lose his place and have to start all over again.  He’d just decided to ignore whoever it was – it obviously wasn’t an emergency – when another knock sounded, immediately followed by an increase in music as the door opened.

Eren poked his head through the opening, and Levi lowered the data pad with a sigh.  “By all means, let yourself in,” he deadpanned.

“Sorry,” Eren said, not looking very sorry at all as he stepped inside.  “It’s loud out here.  I thought maybe I just couldn’t hear you.”

“And if you didn’t hear me because I was sleeping?”

“Then I guess I would’ve woken you up.”

The distant light of the aurora shone through the windows, highlighting the smirk Eren was both trying and failing to hide.  It reminded Levi of Hange and Mike.  How long had it been since one of his scowls had any effect on them?  Now he couldn’t even intimidate a greenhorn.  It was embarrassing.  He was losing his touch.

“Is everything okay, Captain?” Eren asked after a minute.  The amusement was still there, though it had softened somewhat, colored by concern.  “You didn’t stay with the crew very long.”

“There’s a lot to finalize before we reach Calaneth.”

“Oh.”  Shifting his weight, Eren cocked his head towards the door.  “I can go if you want.”

It was probably for the best.  Hange was getting ideas, so it was safe to say the rest of the crew wouldn’t be far behind in making their own assumptions, if they hadn’t already.  And yet… “It’s fine.  You’re already here,” Levi said, propping up the data pad once more.  “Just don’t be a bother.”

The click of the latch sounded louder than normal, echoing through the cabin.  Levi kept his eye trained on the data, but he was intensely aware of Eren as he first hovered by the door, then ambled to the sword mounted on the wall, then to the same built-ins he had that first evening aboard.  Forcing himself to focus, Levi skimmed through a couple lines of data.

“You have a lot of books.”

Inhaling deeply, Levi closed his eye in a bid for patience.  “Just because I’m a pirate, doesn’t mean I can’t read.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.  I’m just… surprised, I guess,” Eren said.  “It’s a good surprise, though.”

“Thank god for that.  I would’ve hated to disappoint you.  Now what did I say about bothering me?”

Eren huffed a quiet laugh but dutifully complied, leaving the cabin quiet aside from the music outside.  Relaxing, Levi returned to Nanaba’s notes.  _Twelve chests of diamonds, five of sapphires, nine of emeralds, four of_ —

Levi glanced over at Eren, watched as he ran a finger along the bookshelf, then turned back to the data pad.  _Twelve chests of diamonds, five of sapphires, nine_ —

Eren plucked a book from the small collection of medical manuals Hange had insisted he keep.  When he let the cover fall open, Levi opened his mouth only to snap it closed again.  Fidgeting in the chair, he forced himself to follow the notes.  _Twelve chests of_ —

“It’s an old medical journal.”

Fucking hell.

Levi wanted to kick himself the moment the words spilled out.  The same line of data he’d tried to read four times seemed to mock him, and he had to physically restrain himself from throwing down the data pad.  He should’ve sent Eren away when he had the chance.  But despite his frustration, the words kept coming.

“This line of work isn’t exactly safe.  Medicinal patches usually do the trick, but traditional books on healing are good to keep around.  In case of emergencies.  They’ve come in handy more than once.”

Eren nodded absently.  “Makes sense.  But there’s an updated edition to this you should get.  It goes into more depth on natural cures and has tips for invasive surgeries in unsanitary conditions.  In-the-field type stuff that’s more up your alley.  Might be hard to find, though.  Not much survived the rumbling on Earth.”

That was… unexpected.

Accepting the fact he wasn’t going to get any work done that night, Levi dropped the data pad and pushed back from the desk.  He rested one elbow on the armrest and propped his chin against his fingers, interest piqued.  Hange was right, not that he would ever admit that to their face.  Eren was becoming more interesting with every passing day.

Eventually, the prolonged silence must have registered because Eren looked back.  “My father was a doctor,” he explained at Levi’s keen expression.  “Sometimes I helped him.”

“Is that so?”  They hadn’t had a true doctor in the crew in years.  Hange worked in a pinch, but they tended to get analytical when they should be stitching.

Eren hummed.  “That’s how I know your ankle never healed properly from whatever you did to it.”

Narrowing his eye, Levi spun in the chair to face Eren.  “Well, well… aren’t you full of surprises.”  In the four years since the accident, no one had ever noticed.  The only people who even knew he’d been injured were Mike and Hange.  Everyone else who’d been there at the time was now dead.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.  You hide it well.  It’s almost impossible to notice,” Eren assured as he slid the book back onto the shelf and leaned back against it.  “Solar flares, right?  Your ankle acts up when they’re the strongest?”

“Yes.”

“That’s common.  There’s no cure, but my old man taught me a few tricks on managing the pain.  I could…”  Eren motioned to Levi’s leg.  “If you want.”

No.  That was what he should say.  Taking on Eren as a member of the crew and guiding him as he learned was one thing.  This was something else entirely.  Saying yes felt like crossing a line Levi didn’t even know had been there.  It would be acknowledging the subtle shift in the air between them, the way the currents had sharpened and darkened.

Before Levi could respond, Eren pushed away from the built-ins.  Rolled was more like it, beginning with his hips and ending at his shoulders, cat-like in its languidness.  He came to stand directly before Levi, and they stared at each other, surrounded by that weighty, charged silence.  Then, without so much as blinking, Eren knelt.  A warm hand cupped the back of Levi’s ankle, gently pulling to encourage him to extend his leg.  When he did, Eren’s eyes flicked down, then up again in an unspoken question as he took hold of Levi’s boot.  Yes or no?

Levi lifted his foot.

The boot came off and was set aside, and Eren rolled Levi’s pants up to the knee.  “It’s scar tissue,” he said, arranging Levi’s foot on top of his thigh.  “The injury didn’t heal correctly, so scar tissue built up around the joint to compensate.”

Eren started out simply probing.  He pressed a few spots, rotated Levi’s ankle, checked for any swelling.  At one point, his fingers drifted upwards, and Levi jerked at the ticklish sensation, kicking him lightly in the chest.  Eren chuckled softly and rubbed at his sternum, then adjusted his grip and began a slow, steady massage.

“The best thing for it is rest, but since I doubt you’ll do that, regular massages are a close second.  They’ll help in the long run.”  Eren dug his thumb into a particularly sore spot, and Levi hissed.  “Though they’ll hurt at the time.”

The aurora was barely a glint in the distance now.  The only remaining light in the cabin came from the lantern on the desk.  It bathed them in a soft glow, and Levi couldn’t help but watch Eren as he worked.  He followed the loose strands of hair hiding his eyes down to the key dangling around his neck, took in the way the borrowed shirt puckered across his broad shoulders, drifted down to the still-healing burns scattered across his forearms, down further still to those deft fingers pressing into the hollow beneath his ankle bone—

Another sore spot made Levi flinch, hands tightening around the ends of the armrests.

Eren whispered an apology and started to pull away, brow furrowed, but he froze when Levi reached out without thinking to stop him.  His fingertips ghosted over the wisps of hair sticking out around Eren’s ear.  They were as soft as they looked.

Swallowing thickly, Levi pulled his hand back and pushed his heel into Eren’s thigh in a silent request to continue, which he did after a couple wide-eyed blinks.  As he resumed the motions, Levi wondered if Eren could feel his pulse.  The way his heart was hammering against the inside of his ribs, he could probably hear it.

“So,” Levi began as Eren moved down the right side of his ankle, voice rough, “your father _was_ a doctor?”

“Yeah, back on Shiganshina.”

“But he’s not anymore,” Levi supplied slowly.

Eren lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.  “Hard to practice medicine when you’re dead.”

Ah, there it was.  More of the story he’d danced around that first morning.

“And your mother?”  Eren’s eyes darted up at the question, and Levi arched a brow.  “Just wondering if Mrs. Jaeger is going to put a bounty on my head for whisking away her precious baby boy.”

“She’s dead, too,” Eren said flatly.  “I had an older brother, but he took off when I was five.  Always promised he’d come back for me, but obviously that was bullshit seeing how I haven’t seen or heard from him in years.  I meant it when I said my friends were the only ones I cared about.”

Levi rested his head against the chair and stared at the ceiling as Eren diligently worked at another tender spot.  “I’m sorry.”  He’d been there before.  He knew what it was like to lose everything.

“Don’t be.  It was a long time ago.”

It still wasn’t the whole story.  There were too many emotions layered beneath the curt, handful of words for that to be it.  But it was enough for now.  Levi hadn’t pressed him the first time, and he wasn’t about to press him now.  The rest would come out at some point, in Eren’s own time.

Gradually, Levi felt himself relax.  The massage didn’t feel good, per se, but it did ease the persistent ache.  Eren paused to rotate his foot, and Levi closed his eye.  Then, when Eren gently pulled on his heel, something popped and the tension unraveled.  Levi bit back a groan and settled for a deep, ragged exhale through his nose.  Never mind, he took that back.  The massage was good.  _Very_ good.

“Does it feel okay?” Eren asked.

Cracking his eye, Levi saw Eren peeking at him from beneath his lashes.  He’d paused the actual massage, although his thumb was still making small circles around the ankle bone.  Levi held his gaze for a minute before closing his eye again.

“It’s not bad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning... I'm going to have to take a bit of a break from this fic. It kills me to say that because I'm having so much fun, but I signed up for the ereri mini-bang and reaaalllly need to get started on that. I'll try to work on this as time allows, but just know the next update might be delayed <3
> 
> Updates and items of inspiration are being tracked [here](http://stalrua.tumblr.com/tagged/a-hurricane-raging) on tumblr.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: slight violence and drug use

“It's been a while, Bertholdt.  Last time I saw you, you were a greenhorn scraping shit off _The Legion's_ keel.  Now you're the captain of your own ship and crew.”  Levi surveyed the mess of bodies and the wrecked ship anchored nearby.  “Or you were.  Still, that's a hell of a promotion.  It pays to support a mad dog.”

“Fuck you,” Bertholdt spat.

“Don’t be an idiot.  You know what I want.”  Stepping closer, Levi made a show of drawing his knife.  “Tell me where he is.”

Bertholdt resolutely closed his mouth.  Levi gave him a second to reconsider before nodding to Mike.  There was a sharp crack, followed by a cry of pain as Mike twisted Bertholdt’s now broken arm even further behind his back, forcing him to his knees.  Brandishing the knife, Levi knelt and pressed its tip to the underside of Bertholdt's jaw.  The glowing edge created dark hollows beneath his eyes.

“Let’s try this again,” Levi said.  “Tell me where he is.”

Bertholdt lifted his head and fixed Levi with a furious glare.  “You expect me to turn traitor?  He’ll kill me if he finds out.”

“You got yourself caught and lost him one of his best ships.  You’re dead either way.”

“I’m devoted to the cause.  A warrior.  I’m not scared to—”

Mike made a sudden move, and the rest of Bertholdt’s words dissolved into another anguished yell.

“You’re loyal.  I respect that,” Levi said when he quieted down.  “But it’s not going to save you.  If you tell me where to find him, I promise to make it quick.  If you don’t…”

The threat lingered in the air between them, and Bertholdt’s breaths hissed through gritted teeth as he weighed his options, sweat beading across his forehead and neck, soaking the collar of his shirt.  He looked especially pale beneath the blue light from the bioluminescent orbs.  And young.  He couldn’t have been much older than Eren.

It really was a shame.  As satisfying as vengeance was, Levi took no pleasure in killing someone for a choice made when they were too young to fully understand the implications.  For all he knew, Bertholdt had been forced into cooperating.  But that neither erased nor excused the past.  There were consequences to every action, and they didn't always include a second chance.

Levi's eye flicked to Mike again, but as soon as the quartermaster's hands began to tighten, Bertholdt's resolve faltered.  “No, stop!  Ple— _aargh_ , please wait, I— I don't know!  I swear, I don't know!”

Levi raised a hand, and Mike stopped.  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I mean I don’t know where he is.  None of the fleet does.  He sends out coordinates whenever he wants to meet.  The rest of the time, he’s in the wind,” Bertholdt said in a rush.  “If the Beast doesn’t want to be found, you’re not going to find him.”

“You clearly don’t know me very well.”

Bertholdt barked out a bitter laugh.  “I know you well enough.  It hasn’t been that long.  Even if I didn't, there's no hiding that look in your eye.  You’re willing to sail to the edge of the universe and beyond to get what you want, but killing him won’t change anything.  It won’t bring them back.”

“No, it won’t,” Levi admitted.  “But it’ll still feel good shoving my sword into his belly.”

“You should know better than anyone that it won’t be that easy.”  Bertholdt shook his head, skin sallow now with pain and exhaustion.  “Revenge is going to get you killed.  Just let it go, he’s not even after you anymore.”

Something pricked at the back of Levi’s mind.  “Is that so?  How about you tell me who he _is_ after, then.”

“I was never given a name, or why he’s important.  All I know is that the Beast has been wanting to find him for years now.”

_We’ve found him._

Levi sat back on his heels, eye narrowing.  In the days after Shiganshina Prime, he’d decided it must have been him the assailants were after.  It was the only thing that made sense.  Just one more attempt at putting an end to a grudge that had started so long ago.  Apparently, he’d been wrong.

Reaching out, Levi cut off Bertholdt’s armband.  The fabric landed in a smear of blood on the deck, so he used the knife to straighten it out, cocked his head and studied that signature starburst.  Then he glanced to where Eren stood with a short sword pressed to the neck of the only other pirate off _The Colossal_ still alive.  They stared at each other for one long moment before Levi turned back to Bertholdt.

“Thank you,” he said, standing.  “You’ve been very helpful.”

Bertholdt gasped, but Levi drove the knife into his neck before he could say anything.  He stepped back to avoid the blood and wiped the blade off on his pants.  By the time he was done, Bertholdt had stopped moving.  It was the quickest, most painless death he could manage, as promised.

“I want all this cleaned up before you set the crew loose,” Levi told Mike, gesturing to the dead bodies scattered across the ship.  “No tracking blood all over everything.   And have them take any of our men who didn’t survive down to Hange.  We’ll give them a proper sendoff later.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“When they do start looting, make sure they check every inch.  _The Colossal_ is the largest ship in the Beast’s fleet.  There’s bound to be plenty of treasure on her.”

“Aye, Captain,” Mike said again and saluted.

“Eren,” Levi called out once the quartermaster was gone.  Those sea-green eyes snapped to his, and he nodded to the captive Eren still held at sword point.  “Go ahead.”

The man immediately began to squirm.  Eren adjusted his grip and pressed the keen edge of the blade more firmly against the man’s throat to keep him in place, but his expression was torn.  “Captain—”

“There’s no mercy in a life like ours,” Levi interrupted.  He knew where this was going.  “It’s kill or be killed.  You think he’d hesitate if the roles were reversed?”

“No.”

“That’s right, he’d slit your throat without thinking twice about it.  Now go on.  Make it quick.”

Eren continued to stand there while the crew went about their business around them.  Frustrated, Levi sheathed his knife and strode forward.  “This is the way things are,” he snapped.  “I don’t have time to pussyfoot around and hold your hand.  If you can’t kill him, you may as well pack your shit and be ready to—”

With a wet gurgle, the man crumpled between them.  Blood spilled over Levi's boots, and he looked from the dead captive to where Eren stood, brows drawn low over his eyes, knuckles white around the hilt of his sword, jaw clenched.  Drops of blood dotted his chin and neck.

“I can kill people,” Eren said, voice rough but steady.  “But that doesn’t mean I like to.”

He left without offering a salute or waiting for a dismissal, weaving through the rest of the crew and disappearing below deck.

Levi let him go.

 

* * *

 

Cleaning up after the battle and clearing out everything of value from _The Colossal_ took the rest of the day, and it was well into the second watch before Levi found Eren off the bow of the ship, tucked into the nook on the back of the ship’s figurehead.  He laid with his back against the wood, fingers laced on his stomach, focus trained on the stars overhead.  If not for the slight redness around his eyes, he would’ve seemed utterly at ease.

Levi leaned on the railing.  There was no doubt Eren was aware of his presence, but he didn’t so much as blink.  Obviously, he wasn’t keen on striking up a conversation.  Killing that pirate had affected him more than expected.  Normally, Levi wouldn’t push the matter.  He’d never had reason to demand secrets from his crew when he carried his own, but it was too easy, sometimes, to fall into a dark place when left to one’s own devices.

Inhaling deeply, Levi stared out to the stars as well.  “Who did you kill?”

“You’ll have to be more specific.  Traders, dealers, local trash…”  Eren ticked off a finger for each one.  “I told you I’m not afraid.”

“I didn’t say you were.  But one of those got to you.  Who?”

Eren was quiet for a long time, so long Levi began to wonder if he was going to say anything at all.  He’d just given up and turned to walk away when Eren whispered, “My parents.”

Levi did look at that, quick and sharp.  With one hand still on the railing, he watched Eren through the slats.  He hadn’t moved other than to tuck his hands beneath his head, but his expression was dark and haunted, wholly out of place with the usual bright, easygoing personality he’d become accustomed to. 

“They had black fever,” Eren said.  “My dad caught it from a patient.  By the time we noticed the signs, my mom had it too.”

Slowly, Levi returned to the railing.  “A mercy killing.”  That was not at all what he’d imagined when Eren had said his parents were dead. 

“Do you know what happens when someone catches black fever?” Eren asked.  “It’s standard stuff in the beginning.  Aches, chills, fever.  Then come the blisters.  They rupture, but the sores never heal, just fester and spread until infection sets in.  Most die when their skin starts sloughing off.  A few make it to the late stages, to the hemorrhaging.”

An involuntary shiver worked its way down Levi’s spine.  He’d heard rumors of the deadly disease, how it was capable of wiping out entire cities if not kept under control, but had been fortunate never to come into contact with it.  Witnessing the aftermath was enough.

“I’ve heard the way people scream.  There’s no relief, no cure.  Only suffering.  My parents didn’t want to die like that, and I didn’t want to watch them die like that.  I _couldn’t_.  So when they asked me, I—”  Eren’s voice caught.

“You did the right thing,” Levi said softly.  “It’s what they wanted.”

“Didn’t make it any easier.”

“I’d be more worried if it was.”

Eren’s eyes flicked to his.  There was a flash of something akin to gratitude in their depths, there and gone again as the melancholy bled back in.  Sniffing, Eren scrubbed the back of his sleeve across his face.  “I can do it.  When the time calls for it, I can kill.  I just don’t like being cruel for the sake of cruelty.”

“Is that what you think we were today?” Levi asked.

“That man was alone, unarmed, and surrounded by enemies.”

“And if we’d dropped him on the next planet, he would’ve sent a comm as soon as we were out of sight and compromised our position.  Leaving him alive was too risky.”  It was the hard truth.  Given the choice between an enemy pirate’s life and the safety of his crew… well, it wasn’t even a choice.  “Killing is par for the course in this line of work, Eren.  We’re not senseless about it, but the fact remains it’s unavoidable.  If you’re not prepared to accept that, you’ll be better off planetside.”

Eren nodded.  “Understood.”

Silence settled over them.  It wasn’t tense or uncomfortable, just heavy with the weight of their discussion.  Levi rested his forearms on the railing and looked out into space once again.  Off in the distance, the interstellar dust surrounding the Utgard Ruins glowed a deep, fiery red.  They’d probably reach it in two or three days.  Then it was roughly one week until Calaneth Sector.  After that…

Levi had originally thought Eren would stay aboard _The Legion_ without hesitation, but now he wasn’t so sure.  The revelation of his past, what he’d been forced to do, cast a whole new light on his request for a trial run on the crew.  Levi hadn’t changed his mind, though.  He wanted Eren on his crew, just not at the expense of his own wellbeing.

“Does it _ever_ get easier?”

The question was quiet but cut through Levi’s thoughts like a knife.  Below, Eren’s eyes were on him again.  “No.”  Levi refused to lie no matter what impact it might have on his decision.

“It seems easy for you,” Eren countered.

“It’s not.  It never should be.”

“Not even if you find the Beast?”

Levi paused, the sudden shift throwing him off guard.  “Killing him will be… easier than the others,” he admitted.

“I figured.  He’s the reason you lost half your crew, isn’t he?  That’s why you need new recruits.”  Eren sat up and pulled his knees to his chest.  “What happened?”

Their enmity wasn’t exactly a secret.  The entire crew was aware of the longstanding vendetta their captain held against the Beast, along with most of the other pirates in the known galaxies.  Levi hadn’t planned on delving into that bit of history tonight, but if Eren had the strength to discuss his past, so did he.  Besides, if the possibility of Eren joining the crew remained, he’d learn the truth eventually.  Better to hear it straight from the source.

“We came across each other outside the River Star Gap,” Levi said.  “It was enough of a surprise that neither of us were able to get a jump on the other, but the longer we fought, the more the battle turned in our favor.  When it became clear he was going to lose, the Beast signaled for his men to activate a thunder grenade.”

Eren’s eyes widened.  “He did it while they were still there?”

“Desperation is a dangerous thing.  The explosion well near sunk _The Legion_ , offed half my crew, and gave me this.”  Levi gestured to the eyepatch over his right eye and the series of scars across the rest of his face, then sighed.  “We had him.  _I_ had him.  But instead of just getting my revenge, I decided to take my time, torture him for everything he’d done, make it _hurt_.  If I hadn’t hesitated…”

There were times he woke from nightmares of that moment.  Felt the heat from the explosion, the pain, the all-consuming grief at the aftermath.  Ivan, Flagon, Gelgar, Ilse, Farlan, Isabel… he’d lost so many comrades.  Friends.  It made it hard to live without regrets, knowing he was to blame.

“Do you remember what I told you about not getting cocky?” Levi asked.

“Yes.”

“I let vengeance get the best of me, and we all paid the price.”  He tapped a finger to the eyepatch.  “Don’t be the one who has to learn the hard way.”

Crossing his arms over his knees, Eren rested his chin on them, forehead creased in thought.  “There’s a lot of bad blood between you two.”

“More than you could ever know.  It was terrible, but in the end, it was just one more battle in a long line of battles.”

“That sounds miserable.”

Levi shrugged.  “It is what it is.  I swore to kill him the day he incited a mutiny and stabbed my old captain in the back, and I won’t stop until I fulfill that promise.”

“Even if it kills you?”

“Even if it kills me,” Levi echoed.  He’d never forget the way it felt to return from his brief trip planetside to find half the crew gone and Erwin – the man who’d pulled him from the gutters, who’d given him a home, a purpose – dead.  When Eren’s expression turned sad, Levi frowned.  “Don’t give me that look.  Six years.  Going after the Beast is all I’ve known for six fucking years.  I don’t expect you to understand that.”

“I don’t have to.  Maybe if I’d been there… I understand the drive, though.  We all have goals.  Sometimes the only thing we can do is keep moving forward.”  Standing up, Eren held onto the railing directly in front of Levi for balance.  “But what about your crew?  Are you willing to sacrifice them for your cause?”

The challenge was clear, but Levi refused to so much as blink.  “You leave everything behind when you join a crew.  They become your family.  It wasn’t just my men the Beast killed that day, it was my men’s family.  This is as much their cause as mine.”

“That’s fair enough.”  Eren jumped off the figurehead, hefted himself onto the railing, and began to climb over.  “So what happened to the Beast after your last fight?”

“Hard to say.  Some said the explosion crippled his ship and crew as well, others said he came out unscathed, stronger than before like he’s some kind of god.”  Levi shifted to the side to give Eren room.  “Rumors can take on a life of their own.  I only trust what I can see.”

“That captain confirmed he’s alive, though,” Eren said, hopping onto the forecastle deck.

“He did.”

“But… if the Beast isn’t looking for you, who else would he be after?”

Crossing his arms, Levi leveled Eren with a knowing look.  “I have an idea.”

It was Eren’s turn to be taken aback.  He fell still halfway through dusting off his pants, and Levi could tell the precise moment realization struck.  “Me?  You think he’s after _me_?” he asked in disbelief.  “How— I don’t— why would he be looking for me?”

“That’s a good question.  I was hoping you could tell me.”

“What’s there to tell?  I’d never even heard of him before today.”  Eren pressed the heels of his hands to his temples.  “I don’t even know his _name_.”

“No one does.  He’s only ever gone by the Beast.  But it was his crew who attacked us that night on Shiganshina Prime, and it was one of his squad leaders who sent a comm that they’d found him.”  Arching a brow, Levi tracked Eren’s progress as he began to pace back and forth across the deck.  “If he’s not looking for me, who did they find?  You were the only thing different.”

Eren stopped at the far end of the deck and whirled around.  “You think I’m in league with him?”

“I think there’s some kind of connection,” Levi said.  “I’ve never been one to believe in coincidence.”

“You asked me to join your crew.  You took a chance on me without knowing a single god damn thing about me.  You—”  Eren cut off abruptly, teeth grinding together.  He crossed to Levi, crowded into his space, and stared down at him, equal parts angry and desperate.  “Do you trust me?”

“You’ve been aboard _The Legion_ for two weeks.”

“And you’ve spent more time around me during those two weeks than anyone else.”

“Because you’re a greenhorn,” Levi explained, nonchalant.  “You needed help.”

“Bullshit, you—”

“I told you earlier, I only trust what I can see.”

“Then fucking _look_ at me!”

There was a warning yell from Dita, still on watch at the helm, but Levi merely lifted one hand to signal everything was fine.  He didn’t need backup to deal with Eren, no matter how worked up he was.  Taking a deep breath, he calmly glanced to where each of Eren’s hands were now clamped around his upper arms, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, then back up to his eyes.  The way they glinted reminded Levi of a wild animal.  He was dangerous, yes… but not to him.

Levi held that hard-edged gaze and covered one of Eren’s hands with his own.  “I am, Eren.”

They remained that way, frozen beneath the slow passage of stars as the seconds ticked by and the tension ebbed.  Levi gradually relaxed, but he could feel the way Eren continued to tremble through the hands still grounding him in place.  He was just about to take better hold of Eren’s hand when he ripped away with a shuddering exhale.

“Fuck,” he growled.  “I need a drink.”

Levi huffed a laugh.  “I’d say you need something stronger than that.”  Withdrawing a small packet from his pocket, he held it up between two fingers.

“Is that…?”

“Well, it isn’t sugar.”  Levi unclasped the flask of rum at his hip and tapped the fine, purple powder into it.  “Treasure isn’t the only thing that sells on the black market.”

“How did you know I’d want some?” Eren asked, watching Levi swirl the flask.

“Just a hunch.  Figured you could use something to take the edge off after the way you reacted earlier.”  It had been a long day for everyone.  Levi held out the flask.  “Interested?”

 

* * *

 

“So then Jean tells me he’ll give me his entire stash if I make the jump.  Now, that chasm is over thirty clicks wide.  People with racers would jump it sometimes to show off, but no one had ever made it on a ground speeder.”  With a proud smirk, Eren jabbed his thumb into his chest.  “Until me.”

Levi snatched back the flask.  “No, you didn’t.”

“I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“If you made that jump, it’s because you cheated.  Thirty clicks?  There’s no way a basic ground speeder could cross that.”

“Oh, come on.  Would I lie to you?” Eren asked.  Taking another drink, Levi gave him a skeptical look, and Eren’s poker face promptly crumbled as he burst out laughing.  “Okay, fine!  I may have… modified the speeder a bit.  But Jean never said anything about it having to be basic, so it wasn’t technically cheating.  Gravimetric hyperdrives are still legal in the Maria Cluster.”

Levi hummed.  “A sly cheater, then.  I like it.”

Still chuckling, Eren turned and flopped back against the railing.  Levi had lost track of how long they’d been sitting there.  Long enough for the flask to be almost empty and Keiji to have replaced Dita for third watch, but not long enough for him to be oblivious.  He knew what it looked like, drinking late into the night with Eren.  Thing was, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Eren plucked the flask from his hands, took a long draught, and breathed out long and slow.  “Fuck yes.  I still can’t get over how good this shit is.  Blows everything we had on Shiganshina out of the water.”

“No one wants to waste something high quality as this on a deep space port.  This was bound for a bunch of rich, pampered pigs in the Capital.”

“Well, at least today wasn’t a total bust.”  Eren lifted the flask in an exaggerated toast.  “Something good came out of it.”

“Drugs and motives weren’t quite what I had in mind.”

“Better than nothing.”

Not finding a location had certainly been disappointing, but he was removed enough from the heat of the moment to know Eren was right.  _The Colossal_ had provided a good haul, and knowing he’d sunk one of the Beast’s best ships, reduced his followers, and stolen his cache was still satisfying.  He’d take whatever he could get.

They swayed with the ship’s movements, shoulders bumping as they hit a bit of turbulence, and Eren’s head lolled to the side to face him.  “It really is a shame you don’t know his name.”

Levi held out a hand, and Eren returned the flask.  “I’ve tried to figure it out for years now.  Thought it might give me the chance to pick apart his past, find someone he cared about to use as leverage.  All I got were cold trails and dead ends.”  Staring out unseeingly across the ship, he fingered the knife at his waist.  “He’s a smart son of a bitch.  I won’t underestimate him again.”

“I believe it.  I’ve never been a betting man, but if I were, I’d bet on you.”

Levi snorted.  “You were betting in the tavern the night we met.”

“That was different,” Eren countered.  “My honor was at stake.  I had to defend myself.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“No, you probably don’t.”  Eren’s laughter slowly trailed off, and Levi had to fight the instinct to pull away when he felt two fingertips brush his temple, slide along the underside of the strap holding his eyepatch in place.  “Even with this,” Eren murmured, “I’d still bet on you.”

Despite not having taken a drink in a while, a heady rush flowed through Levi.  He swallowed thickly and turned to meet Eren’s intense gaze.  His pupils were dilated to the point only a thin sliver of green surrounded them, deep and dark and fathomless, and Levi could feel how easy it would be to tumble into them, drown in them. 

“I remember when the traders started talking about it,” Eren continued softly.  “They said you’d sailed into a black hole and given your eye to the devil in exchange for power.  But it wasn’t a black hole.  Or the devil.  It was an accident.”  His fingers slipped free of the strap to ghost down Levi’s cheek.  “You’re just as human as I am.”

“Still more deadly,” Levi said, hating how raspy he sounded.

“Yeah, definitely more deadly.  I wouldn’t want to fight you even if you were missing both eyes.”  Eren’s attention dipped, following those fingertips as they drifted over to tease the corner of Levi’s mouth, thumb sweeping beneath his lip.  When he spoke, his voice was a low and lazy drawl.  “You know… you’re not what I expected.”

“You told me that already.”

“Yes, well…”

A gust from the solar winds billowed the sails.  It teased away strands of Eren’s hair, and Levi watched them rise and then fall against his cheek, mesmerized even as he admonished himself for it.  What the hell was he doing?  But there was no time for stray doubts to take root.  No time for thought at all, really.  Not when Eren was shifting slightly to face him, leaning in, drawing closer and closer and—

“Eren.”

Eren dutifully stopped, waited for a second as his eyes flicked from Levi’s mouth to the hand pressing lightly to his chest and back again, then pulled away to return to his previous spot against the railing.  “Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat.  “Must be the rum.”

Letting his head fall back, Levi watched the stars drift by.  Those doubts were still bouncing around his mind, but he couldn’t shake the sense of agitation that had settled in his bones.  Was he upset with Eren for possibly ruining whatever it was they had by making a move?  Or was he upset with himself for stopping him?

“Hey, Levi?”

“Captain,” he corrected automatically.

Eren chuckled, unfazed.  “Levi,” he said again, although this time more serious.  “Thank you for this.  For coming to find me.”

“I’ve been around long enough to know when someone needs to talk.”

“I know, but still… thank you.”

Eren scooted down so he could lay flat on the deck.  Tilting his head, Levi peeked at him from the corner of his eye.  Between the rum, the drugs, and the late hour, he was ready to go sleep.  He _should_ go to sleep.  Instead, he followed suit, laying down next to Eren, so close their arms were touching and he could feel the warmth of his body.  They stayed there, not talking, just staring out into space long after Levi had any reasonable excuse to be doing so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all of you for the kudos and comments <3 I appreciate every single one so much! The final chapter will still be delayed due to the mini-bang, but just hang in there. There's fun stuff to come!
> 
> Updates and items of inspiration are being tracked [here](http://stalrua.tumblr.com/tagged/a-hurricane-raging) on tumblr.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to all of you for being patient while I finished up my mini-bang piece <3 I had a lot of fun with it, but it sure felt good to get back to space pirates! This chapter ended up a little longer than I expected, so hopefully that makes up for the wait!
> 
> There is also some absolutely adorable fanart to go with this fic! Check it out [here](https://stalrua.tumblr.com/post/184835081585/i-love-a-hurricane-raging-by-stalrua-so-much)!

* * *

Standing to one side, Levi carefully watched Eren steer the ship.  He’d shown up right as Levi was going to assign Abel the helm with a smart quip about how simple it looked, to which Levi had merely shrugged, gestured to the wheel, and said, “By all means, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Sometimes it was more entertaining to let greenhorns learn the hard way.

Eren glanced down at the navigation panel, spun the wheel a few clicks to the right, and flashed Levi a grin.  “This isn’t bad at all.  The currents do most of the work, all it takes are a few adjustments to stay on course.  No wonder you spend so much time here.  It’s the easiest job on—”

An eddy caught _The Legion_ without warning.  The ship turned so sharply it heeled, sending people and cargo tumbling across the deck.  Even Levi was forced to grab onto Eren as he stumbled forward.

“Shit!”  Eren tried to correct, but it only caused the ship to list even more.  “Shit, shit, shit!”

“Steer into the turn, not away.  This isn’t a ground speeder,” Levi said, trying to maintain some semblance of balance.  That they were broadside to the current now didn’t help.  The solar winds were battering the side of the ship, increasing the list to a dangerous degree.  “Activate the keel weights before we capsize!”

“What the fuck is a keel weight?”

Using Eren as leverage to pull himself closer, Levi punched a small, red button beside the navigation panel.  Immediately, their rolling lessened as additional gravity filled the fin that ran down the length of the hull, and the ship began to gradually right itself.  The crew helped by crawling to the high side of the deck, their added weight aiding the ship in leveling out.

Once they were stable, Levi released Eren’s arm.  “ _That’s_ the keel weights,” he said.  “Now get us back on course.”

Eren spun the wheel.  There was a slight shudder as _The Legion_ pulled free of the eddy and came about, then the sails billowed and they began running downwind again.  Levi could practically feel Eren relax beside him.

“Well, that was instructive,” Eren quipped even as he raised an apologetic hand to those shooting him dirty looks from the deck below.  “Activate the keel weights when listing.  Good to know.”

Levi hummed.  “Unless you’re in the shallows.  Too much gravity can drag you beneath the current, and if the slipstream catches the sails, you’re fucked.”

Leaning down, Eren studied the various screens and readouts on the navigation panel.  “Which one of these tells depth?”

“None of them.”

Levi had to bite back an amused snort at how quickly Eren’s head shot up.  Over two weeks on board, and he was still almost painfully predictable.  It really was too easy.  Reaching beneath Eren’s arm, he grabbed one of the wheel’s handles for a minor correction.

“Right.  So what you’re saying is leave the steering to Captain Levi.”  Eren nodded and began to back away from the helm.  “Duly noted.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Levi snapped, crossing his arms.  His tone had Eren freezing mid-step, brow furrowed.  For the first time since their initial meeting, he actually looked nervous.

“I figured I’d help put the cargo back in—”

“Did I tell you to deal with the cargo?”

“Um… no.”

“Did I dismiss you at all?”

“No.”

“Then get back to your station.”  Levi yanked Eren back to the wheel and proceeded to manhandle him into an acceptable position.  “If you ever hope to run the helm, you need experience, and the only way you’re going to get that is with practice.  Now… keep your hands here.  You’ll have better control.  And stop laying all over the wheel.  This is a pirate ship, not a photoshoot for some fucking holozine.”

Eren dutifully straightened, and _The Legion_ drifted along the currents without any more setbacks.  Even still, Levi stayed beside him just in case.  The last thing they needed was another incident so soon after the last.  If the crew had to rearrange the cargo for a second time in the same day, they’d save Levi the trouble and skin Eren alive themselves.

The first few boulders of the Utgard Ruins debris field had begun to drift by when Eren turned his head to look at Levi out of the corner of his eye.  That was when he realized their hands were still layered over each other on the wheel.  And exactly how close they were standing.  Eren’s arm was only inches from his chest, and Levi could practically feel the heat emanating off him.

With a deep breath, Levi moved his hand to the neighboring handle.  Eren’s eyes bored into him, followed him as he leaned away.  Levi could sense their intensity well before he turned to meet them.  The distant thought that they were in full view of the crew flitted through his mind only to vanish just as rapidly when Eren’s focus dipped to his mouth, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

Levi cleared his throat, grabbed the back of Eren’s head, and made him face forward.  “You need to keep your eyes out there, too.  How do you expect to see anything if you’re not paying attention?”

The tension between them snapped and eased, and Eren chuckled.  “Okay, Levi.”

“It’s Captain.”

Eren just smiled.

 

* * *

 

“So…”

“No,” Levi said without looking away from the torn sail draped over his lap.  He didn’t want to acknowledge whatever nonsense Hange was about to spout off, not when he could already hear the grin in their voice.

Hange bounded up the couple steps to the forecastle deck.  “That’s not very nice.  You could at least let me get more than one word out.”

“I never claimed to be nice.”

“True.”  Shoving their hands in their pockets, Hange sidled closer.  “Everyone knows it’s all for show, though.  You remember what I told you, right?”

_You’re getting soft in your old age._

Levi shot Hange a disgusted look, then glanced past them to where Oluo was adjusting the rigging, well within earshot.  Their eyes had barely met before Oluo ducked his head and turned away.  Levi’s brow twitched.  Was that really what they thought of him?  He’d tortured pirates for information and thrown countless others overboard.  He’d _killed_ people, for fuck’s sake.  Plenty of them.  And they thought he was _soft_?

“It’s not too late for me to leave you with that cult, you know,” Levi threatened.  They’d only come across the Church of the Filaments once before in Central Sina, but that was one time too many.  No one was eager to meet them again.  “You’d fit right in with those whack jobs.”

Hange just chuckled.  “You’re cute when you get all flustered and violent.  Not my type, of course, so don’t get excited, but I can see why he likes you.”

No way.

There was absolutely no way he was going to dig into the details of that particular comment.  Better to just ignore it.  Besides, the sooner they got to the point, the sooner Hange would be out of his hair.  Then he could concentrate on stitching up the sail instead of dealing with this ridiculous conversation.  He needed to finish anyway so he could get back to the helm before they reached the worst of the Utgard Ruins.

“Is there a purpose to this entirely unwelcome and annoying visit?” Levi asked thinly.

“Actually, yes!  I think you need to tell Eren how you feel.”

Levi jerked, and the knife he’d been using to trim off an extra length of thread slipped to poke a new hole in the sail.  “What?”

Hange stared silently at the damage before quirking a brow at him.  “We’re going to be in Calaneth in under a week, and he still hasn’t decided whether or not he’s going to stay on board.  He’s honest, capable, and a good fit.  We need someone like him.”

It took a moment for their meaning to sink in.  “You think I should tell Eren I want him to join the crew,” Levi surmised, relaxing.

“Obviously.”  Hange’s mouth twisted into a knowing smirk.  “What did you think I meant?”

When a withering glare did nothing to lessen their smug expression, Levi decided it best to ignore that comment as well.  “Nothing.  You’re right, though, he’s proven himself.”

Not many would’ve endured those initial days of hazing without at least some complaint.  Even fewer would’ve readily ventured into a molecular storm.  A few more months of experience under his belt and Eren would make a hell of a pirate.  But then, that’s what Levi saw that night in the tavern.  Potential.  He’d wanted Eren to join his crew then.  Watching him grow and learn the past few weeks had only strengthened that resolve.

“I’ll consider it,” Levi said as he began a new line of stitches to repair his own mistake.

“Just don’t wait too long, Captain.”   The familiar voice came from above, and they both glanced up to see Mike making his way down the ladder from the fighting top.  “I overheard Eren on a comm last night.  Turns out his buddies have picked up some other greenhorns and formed a halfway decent crew.  Even pillaged a couple cruisers.  They’re smalltime raids, sure, but blood is thicker than water.”

“I don’t know…”  Hange tapped their pursed lips with one finger.  “Money talks.”

Mike shook his head, unconvinced.  “You know as well as I do Eren isn’t the type of person motivated by treasure.  And simple admiration might not be a good enough reason for him to choose us over his friends.”

“Is it simple admiration, though?  Because I’m pretty sure I heard—”

“ _Hange._ ”

“What?” Hange said innocently, then waved off Mike so he wouldn’t interrupt again.  “Don’t be such a drag.  We’re all adults here, and everyone knows what goes on at night.”  They snickered.  “It’s just not often you hear someone whispering the captain’s name while they’re jerking one off.”

Fucking hell.

Levi’s fingertips were white around the needle as he contemplated all the different ways he could get Hange off the ship.  Tossing them into the drifts was fatal, but if he waited until they reached those filament cultists, he’d probably end up killing them himself.  Maybe he’d ship them off in one of the emergency life pods.  There weren’t many on board if something were to happen, but he was willing to take the risk.  Closing his eyes, Levi inhaled deeply in a bid for patience.

“Well, he did save his life,” Mike reasoned.

“I guess that’s all it takes.”

“For some people, maybe.  Not all.”

“Some,” Hange agreed.  “Honestly, though, I knew something was going on since that first morning when I caught Eren in—”

“Alright, that’s it!” Levi growled out through gritted teeth.  He threw aside the sail, jumped to his feet, and stalked over to where Hange and Mike stood.  “Both of you are complete shits, and I’m going to assign you the most disgusting, unbearable, demeaning chores possible for the next six months.”

Their surprised expressions only fueled the fire.

“And you!” he continued, rounding on Oluo who shrunk back against the railing and held up the rigging between them as if it would protect him.  “If I find out you said anything about this to the rest of the crew, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Oluo nodded frantically.  “Aye, Captain.  Not a word, Captain.”

“Good.  Now get back to work, all of you.”

Satisfied, Levi returned to the sail.  His frustration was already melting away, but a sliver of pride remained as he watched Hange and Mike retreat to the main deck and Oluo work twice as fast as he had been before.  Finally, a healthy dose of fear and respect.  He hadn’t lost his touch after all.

 

* * *

 

The problem was that Hange was right.

Levi needed to talk to Eren.

They hadn’t brought up their arrangement since they’d agreed to the trial run, and with them closing in on Calaneth, it seemed like a good time to bring it up.  Eren had gotten a taste of what remaining on _The Legion_ would involve over the course of their trip, the good and the bad.  Now he just had to choose.

Levi worked his way through the maze of hammocks in the crew’s quarters, careful not to bump into any of the sleeping figures.  No one would question him being there, but he preferred discretion after everything that had been happening.  Threats to keep quiet only went so far.  The easiest thing would be to avoid waking anyone.

Anyone except for Eren, of course.

Greenhorns were always forced to sleep closest to the privy in the rear of the cabin, and that was where Levi found him, sprawled out beneath the thin, standard-issue blanket, head turned to one side, cheek pillowed on his hand.  Abel was in the hammock to the left, but the one on Eren’s right hadn’t been used in some time.  Petra had apparently skipped out on the same deal by bunking with Oluo.  Sharing one of the narrow hammocks with another person didn’t necessarily sound better, but to each their own.  He was just thankful he hadn't stumbled across Eren while he was in the middle of his… activities.

Levi scanned the room to make sure everyone was still asleep, then pressed one hand firmly over Eren’s mouth.  Instantly, he was awake.  He thrashed about for a second, landing several blows and nearly overturning the hammock, before his eyes found Levi who held a finger up to his lips, signaling him to be quiet.

Warm exhales puffed over Levi's hand as Eren relaxed by degrees.  He still waited for an acknowledging nod before removing his hand, though.  The only other sound in the cabin was the occasional sleepy grunt and the ever-present creaks of a ship in motion.  He didn't want to take any chances, not when the slightest noise risked waking someone.

Levi jerked his head towards the entrance and promptly spun on his heel.  There was no point in waiting to see if Eren followed.  He knew he would.

"Everything okay?" Eren asked as soon as the cabin door shut behind them.

"Yes."  Halfway up the stairs to the main deck, Levi paused and rounded on Eren.  "Do you have your gear and earplugs?"

The question seemed to throw Eren for a moment.  "Yeah," he said slowly.

"Good.  Come with me."

Levi led them through the hatch, onto the deck, and into an array of dazzling light.  Behind him, he heard a sharp inhale and couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at his lips.  Everyone always reacted that way their first time, and understandably so.  It was quite a sight.  When he glanced back, Eren was frozen in place, face turned upwards, mouth hanging open in awe.

“Holy shit,” Eren breathed.  “Are those…?”

“Magnetosphere whales?  Yeah.”  Levi walked over to the edge of the ship.  “They swim along the outskirts of larger systems and feed on the cosmic radiation that catches in the magnetic fields.”

A gleaming violet whale twice the length of _The Legion_ arched backwards over the top of the ship, giving them a perfect view of the lights that dotted the length of its spine, fins, and tail.  Another that was a deep mossy green drifted close enough to the port side to register the energy emitted by the polycarbonate shield.  The whale issued a series of low croons and clicks as its skin rippled, shifting from green to blue to almost black before returning.  Beyond them, close to fifty other whales of varying sizes and colors were weaving through the stars.

“This pod here is the largest in the known galaxies.  The largest I’ve ever seen, at least, and I’ve seen a lot,” Levi explained.  “It’s because of an old supernova just on the other side of Calaneth.  Nothing else gives off enough radiation to support this many whales.”

Mesmerized, Eren shuffled over to stand beside Levi at the railing.  “They’re incredible.”

Levi hummed.  “Surprisingly gentle, too.”

“Gentle?  What about all the stories of rogue whales sinking ships and killing entire crews?”

“That’s just trader trash spinning tales.  You’d have to do a hell of a lot of provoking to make one of these attack.”  He’d never seen one act even remotely aggressive.  They really were some of the most docile creatures he’d ever come across.  Levi glanced at Eren out of the corner of his eye.  “You can fly with them if you want.”

For the first time since they’d come on deck, Eren looked away from the whales.  “What?”

“You heard me.”  Levi nodded towards the solar glider secured to the side of the ship below them.  “Unless you’re afraid.”

“Ha! I’m not afraid,” Eren scoffed, that familiar pride creeping back in around the initial shock.  “You’re serious, though?  I can really go out there with them?”

“That’s why I asked if you had your gear.”  Although Levi wondered why Eren even bothered asking when he was already tying his hair back, tucking in his shirt, and rolling up his sleeves to reveal the black wristband.

“And the earplugs?”

“You always need to have those, but especially in situations like this,” Levi said.  “Lots of planetlubbers go on whale watching tours.  Sirens like to follow pods and lure unsuspecting tourists.”

“That’s…”  Eren stilled in the middle of unfastening the glider.  “A little unnerving.”

Slapping his hands out of the way, Levi proceeded to undo the last of glider’s straps.  “Just keep your eyes open, and I’ll do the same.  If I spot anything, you’ll know.”  He showed off the comm around his wrist.

The glider slipped free and drifted up to hover at the ship’s railing.  A green sail unfurled from the main mast while the two piloting footpads popped up from the board.  With an excited laugh, Eren climbed aboard before the handbar had even finished extending.  He put in the one-way earplugs, then activated the gear, the protective suit and mask shimmering into place.

“Can you hear me?” Levi asked, speaking into his comm.

“Sure can!”  Eren stomped his foot to release the anchoring system, and the glider swung side to side as he tested its movements.  “Man, it’s been so long since I’ve ridden one of these.  We used to have one when I was a kid, but Zeke took it when he bolted, and Jean always got pissy about sharing his.”  Drifting farther from the ship, he did a couple flips.  “I forgot how much fun they are.”

Levi didn’t know who Eren was talking about, and he didn’t care.  “Focus,” he said and snapped his fingers.  “The whales are gentle, but they’re fucking massive.  They can hurt you without realizing it.  Don’t expect me to come rescue you if something happens because you were too busy showing off.”

“I don’t know… if it impressed you, I might just be willing to risk it.”

“Eren.”

Smiling, Eren rolled his eyes but offered an exaggerated salute all the same.  “Big whales.  Focus.  Got it.”

And then he was gone.

The polycarbonate softened to allow him passage, and the glider sped out into space.  Levi braced his forearms on the railing, watched Eren fly alongside one of the whales, listened to the sound of his whoops and shouts echoing through the comm as he performed a series of circles around its head before arcing out towards the next.

He was so young.  Young and free and alive. 

Levi exhaled a heavy sigh.  When was the last time he’d been able to let go like that?  Had he _ever_?  He’d never been as outgoing or free-spirited as Eren – the slums of Underground Minor Zero had snuffed out any happy childhood he might have experienced – but he could still remember good times.  Before Erwin’s death.  Before everything fell apart.  Now there was just the Beast.

For six years he’d been driven by his promise, and while the intensity of his hatred might have simmered since their last altercation, it was no less consuming.  So much of his time and energy had been spent focusing on the Beast that it might as well be the cornerstone of his being.  Vengeance.  Justice.  It was all he knew.

But Eren wasn’t like that.  He was scarred, yes, but not broken.  Despite everything he’d suffered and done, there was still an innocence to him.  It made Levi wonder what a life without his promise would be like.

A flicker of rosy light pulled Levi’s gaze away from Eren who was currently wakesurfing behind one of the whales, and he looked up to see numerous streaks of light speeding towards the boy.  Pushing away from the railing, he jogged down the side of the ship towards the nearest control panel, comm at his mouth.

“Eren?  Eren, do you copy?  _Eren_?”

The voice that finally came through was fuzzy with static, distorted by both the distance and the whales’ electrical output.  “I hear you, Captain.  What’s up?”

“Sirens at your ten-alt.”  Eren immediately leveled out, and Levi could tell the exact moment he spotted the incoming sirens.  “Get back to the ship now!”

There was no hesitation.  Eren circled over the whale’s fluke and went straight into a nosedive towards _The Legion_.  The sirens were hot on his tail, though, and gaining by the second.  One in particular drew in front of the rest.  There were yards, then feet, then scant inches between them, and Levi clung to the railing as he watched part of the light extend towards the rear end of the glider and form into wickedly clawed hands.

“The sail, Eren!” Levi yelled into the comm.  “Cut it!”

In desperation, Eren deactivated the mast.  It, the sail, and the handbar disappeared into the glider’s storage compartment, and he crouched down to hold onto the board instead.  The loss of even that slightest bit of resistance earned him some breathing room, but he still punched the booster, making the glider shoot forward with a burst of energy.

“The shields!”

“I’m ready!” Levi responded, breathing mask already in place and finger on the switch.

It was all about the timing.  If he left the shield open too long, the backup oxygen tanks would be depleted and the crew would suffocate, but if he opened it too late… needless to say, there wouldn’t be much of Eren left to recover.  He had to judge it just right.  There was no room for error.

Levi flipped the switch at the last moment, then back again.  The shield couldn’t have been down for more than a second, but it was just enough time for Eren to zip through before the polycarbonate hardened into place again.  There were several thuds as the sirens collided with the shield.  Meanwhile, Eren reactivated the glider’s mast, reversed the booster, and banked hard to slow his descent, eventually skidding to a stop beside the ship.

The gear withdrew to reveal Eren, red-faced, wide-eyed, and grinning madly.  “Well,” he said, breathing hard, “if that doesn’t make you feel alive, I don’t know what will.”

Retracting his breathing mask, Levi snorted.  “First the solar storm, now this.  Do you get some kind of sick thrill from near-death experiences?”

“Nah, I just like seeing you worry about me.”

Eren winked, but before Levi could say anything, more thuds drew their attention upwards to where the sirens crawled over the surface of the shield.  There was no splendor to them anymore.  Graceful fingers had been exchanged for claws, delicate features for twisted expressions and razor-sharp teeth.  Even with his earplugs in place, Levi could almost hear their harsh screeches.

“Not so beautiful now, are they?” he asked.

Eren shook his head.  “No, not quite.  You know, for a second there I thought you weren’t going to lower the shield.”

“Hard to join the crew if sirens are licking your remains off the shield.  Trust me, if I wanted you dead, I would’ve killed you before wasting time and resources training you.”

“And here I thought you didn’t want me dead because you’d miss me too much,” Eren teased.

Levi leaned over the railing to smack him, but Eren steered the glider out of reach before he could, laughing.  He drifted close enough to the shield that a couple streaks of orange light slid down the side in hope of another chance.  The sirens had reverted to something more typical now.  Their soft, feminine guises were designed to entice, and they curled sinuously around one another.  Their mouths were moving, too, in what was no doubt an enchanting song.

“Sorry,” Eren told them, tapping one of his earplugs.  “Better luck next time.”

One of the sirens continued to beckon Eren, but the other turned its attention to Levi.  It tilted its head in thought, features smoothing away.  Levi laid a hand on the pistol tucked into his waistband, but the siren was undeterred.  Instead, the orange lights shifted to a brilliant sea-green, and when a face finally emerged, Levi’s breath caught in his throat.

Shoulder-length hair, kind eyes, a decidedly masculine face… it crooked a finger, and Levi felt his heart begin to pound in his chest.  There was nothing voluntary about it.  It was an unconscious reaction.  Instinctive.  Primal.  He knew that, and yet he found himself pressing against the side of the ship all the same, desire burning through his bones like a tangible thing.

The siren ducked its head, peeked at him from beneath lowered lashes, and flashed a flirtatious smirk.  Levi bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood.  _Fuck_.  Positioned that way, it looked achingly familiar.  It could’ve almost been—

Eren’s face popped up, cutting through Levi’s thoughts.  “Persistent, aren’t they?”

Without a clear view of the siren, Levi was drawn back to the present.  Its influence had been so strong he didn’t even remember seeing Eren move, but there he was, back beside the ship and gradually drifting upwards on the glider.  He finally came to a stop a few feet overhead, eyes trained on the lights darting around the ship, and Levi used the distraction to cast a careful glance his way.  The want had faded, but the memory of it remained like a brand on his skin.  It had been a long time since a siren had ensnared him like that.

Levi cleared his throat.  “I told you, fucking pests.”

“Yeah,” Eren said, nodding absently.

“I also told you to be careful.”

“Technically, you told me to focus on the whales, which is what I was doing.  They’re not the ones that tried to kill me.  But you’re right, I should’ve been paying more attention.  Thanks for watching out for me.”

Levi followed Eren’s gaze out to the sirens.  “That’s what happens when you’re part of a crew.  You take care of each other.”

It was the perfect opportunity.  That was the whole reason he’d sought out Eren tonight, after all, to figure out where they stood.  Well, most of the reason.  The whales had provided a convenient excuse, but there was little use in denying that he’d wanted to be the one to show them to Eren.

“Speaking of crews,” Levi said, breaking the silence.  “Have you thought any more about joining?  We’re closing in on Calaneth Sector.  It’s only a couple days now before we arrive.”

“I have.”  The answer didn’t quite have the depth Levi was after, but Eren seemed to know that.  Cocking his head, he absently fingered the glider’s sail, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.  “Do you want me to stay on?”

“I offered you a spot on my crew, didn’t I?”

Eren spun the glider around to face him.  “Yes, but I don’t mean you, the captain.  I mean you, personally.  Do _you_ want me to stay?”

Levi knew exactly what Eren was getting at.  “What I want doesn’t matter,” he said firmly.  “As captain, the survival and well-being of my crew trumps everything else.  It’s my responsibility to do what benefits them.”

“So that’s a no.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, then?” Eren asked, voice quiet, expression eager and hopeful.  The glider began to shift forward, its nose dipping down until the whole board was hanging vertically in the air and Eren was forced to hold onto the handbar as he hovered above Levi.  “You’re human, same as the rest of us.  We all have wants, needs.  It’s okay to admit you want something.  Or someone.”

Levi arched a brow.  “You sure have gotten bold.”

Huffing a quiet laugh, Eren shook his head.  “I’m not a captain.  I’ve got no problem going after what I want.”

“And what is that, exactly?”

“You.”

The first time Levi ever used the maneuver gear, he’d pushed the limits.  He’d gone as high as he could, up past the far end of the floating docks, higher even than some of the top-level cruisers.  He’d gone until he could see the entire curvature of the planet and _The Legion_ was just a speck on its surface.  Then he’d shut off his gear’s propulsion and entered free fall.

Staring up into Eren’s eyes, hearing that brazen confession repeat over and over in his mind, was a lot like that moment.  The lurch in his stomach when gravity took hold, the heat as he’d picked up speed through the atmosphere, the quick-fire beating of his heart.  It was as if the entire universe had shifted on its axis, leaving only the two of them.

“Have you ever heard of the Liberio Storm?” Levi asked.

The sudden change in topic took Eren by surprise.  He pulled back slightly, brows pinched in confusion.  “No.”

“It’s a hurricane on one of the gas giants in the Marleyan Supercluster.  The storm itself is twice the size of any planet in the known galaxies, and it’s been going on for centuries.”

“You’re shitting me,” Eren said.  When Levi just gave him a blank look, he laughed.  “That’s insane.  Have you ever seen it?”

“Once.  We were almost a thousand clicks away, and the winds still nearly brought down _The Legion_.”  Levi’s eye flitted over Eren’s face, drinking in those features he’d come to know so well over the past couple weeks, committing them to memory.  “You remind me of that storm.  You never stop, never slow down.  You’re like a hurricane, always raging.”

“A hurricane, huh?”  One corner of Eren’s mouth quirked into an easy half-smirk as the glider drifted closer.  “Do you think I’ll blow you away?”

Whatever resistance Levi had been harboring was steadily unravelling beyond his control.  He could feel it slipping away, cut loose like a sail in the wind.  He’d never been one to back down from anything, but right then, alone on the deck with only the stars and the sirens as their witness, he could only assume that was what surrender felt like.

Levi took a deep breath.  “Sometimes,” he admitted, slowly, quietly.

It was as if he’d given Eren permission.  In a way, he supposed, he had.  Still holding onto the handbar, Eren reached down to thread his fingers through Levi’s hair, scratched idly at his undercut, cupped the back of his neck.  When he didn’t pull away, Eren inched the glider closer, closer, closer until their lips met and Levi’s mind stuttered to a halt.

Eren was a good kisser.  Firm but not forceful, urgent but not desperate.  He proved himself true to his word: he knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t afraid to take it.

And Levi couldn’t find the strength to deny him.

The heat filtered back in.  However, this time it had nothing to do with the sirens.  It settled low in his stomach, then lower still.  He ached.  He _wanted_.  Tilting his head slightly, Levi opened his mouth just enough to get a taste of Eren and heard him sigh into the kiss.  _Yes_ , he thought as he fisted a hand in the various necklaces around Eren’s neck to drag him closer, felt Eren’s thumb sweep along his jaw in response, coaxing his mouth open further.  _This is surrender._

It was over all too soon.  Eren caught Levi’s lower lip between his teeth for a moment before letting it go, flicked his tongue across it to soothe the sting.  Then he was easing away, and Levi’s fingers fell free of the necklaces and back down to curl around the railing.

“I still haven’t decided if I’m staying on yet,” Eren said, all lazy smile and hooded eyes.  “But I have to admit… you’ve given me a very tempting offer.”

Levi didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t.  Gathering the strained fragments of his self-control, he jerked his head towards the ship in an unspoken command for Eren to get back on board.  “I think that’s enough excitement for one night.”  He returned the glider to its spot and began strapping it in.  “Go get some sleep, let me finish up here.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Alright,” Eren said, voice warm.  “G’night, Levi.”

Levi’s hands faltered on the straps as the correction that had become commonplace between them died on the tip of his tongue.

_This is surrender._

“Goodnight, Eren.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Church of the Filaments is based on [galaxy filaments](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_filament), otherwise known as galaxy walls, which are a real thing! Also, ten-alt is meant to be ten o'clock and altitude to indicate that the sirens were above Eren. Direction is funny to figure out when you're just floating in space.
> 
> As always, thank you for all the kudos and comments <3 they're so encouraging and very much appreciated!
> 
> Updates and items of inspiration are being tracked [here](https://stalrua.tumblr.com/tagged/a-hurricane-raging) on tumblr.


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